Gigabit Fiber Optic can Add $326 Billion to US GDP

Gigabit Fiber Optic advancing the quality of life and digital equity anywhere and everywhere.

A new joint study by the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) and RVA LLC, a market research and consulting firm, suggests that the United States can increase its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $326 billion through gigabit or higher rate fiber broadband services.

When defending gigabit broadband, the authors of the study pointed out that many applications automatically degrade quality and waste user time when only lower bandwidth is available. According to this study, under asymmetric 100/20Mbps connections, conservatively speaking, daily internet users waste an average of 11% of their time, which is about 20 minutes per day.

The author of the study said, “Many consumers are not aware of the time they waste online because delays are measured in seconds (2 seconds there, 10 seconds here, 30 seconds there…). However, when added up, the total is staggering.”

Research shows that increasing the bandwidth speed of users currently working from home (accounting for approximately 24.5% of all jobs in the United States) from 100/20mbps to gigabit fiber to the home could increase GDP by an astonishing 1.2%, or $326 billion.

In addition to demonstrating the almost unlimited bandwidth of optical broadband infrastructure, FBA also published several studies and white papers, proving that optical broadband provides the lowest delay in any Internet transmission mode so far: the delay of optical fiber is 37% better than that of cable, 61% better than that of DSL and wireless, and 96% better than that of GEO satellite.

John George, Chairman of the FBA Technical Committee and Senior Director of OFS Solutions Engineering and Fusion Splicers, said, “This study quantifies how fiber optic broadband can improve productivity, which is key to economic growth and per capita real wages. Therefore, the government should prioritize fiber optic and its benefits to communities and the economy.”