Global Bandwidth Demand Tops 6.4 Pbps, but Growth Keeps Slowing

Bandwidth demand worldwide continues to climb, but that growth is slowing, TeleGeography analyst Alan Mauldin blogged this week. He said increasing bandwidth demand "seemed unstoppable for a long time," up 45% year over year in 2020. But in 2024 the growth was 29%, he said, with the biggest increase in Africa and the lowest in the relatively mature U.S./Canada. Despite the slowing annual growth rate, demand tripled between 2020 and 2024, surpassing 6.4 petabits per second, he said.