‘The hunger for more bandwidth has been satisfied for the time being’

Konstantinos Apostolatos, Benelux director of consultancy firm Arthur D. Little, warns providers in a report about future communication networks against making too large investments in bandwidth. According to the researcher, there is a risk that these investments will no longer be earned back because there is hardly any demand for more bandwidth. He expects that the need for speed will only increase in five to seven years. Video is the main driver of the demand for more bandwidth, he knows, but it’s not until HDTV signals start streaming that more channel capacity is actually needed. The researcher therefore sees nothing in very fast fiber optic networks that offer 100 Mb per second. He thinks that in 2011, for example, a maximum of 50 Mb per second will be enough. He advises the providers to focus on improving the customer relationship and also to ensure that internet, cable and fixed and mobile telephony are better combined. Content and services must convince consumers in their preferences for a particular provider.