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as many advocates for public-private and public infrastructure investments would argue are necessary. A lack of early demand for multi-gig among consumers even could be used to make the argument that public assis- tant will be necessary to achieving fiber-driven future-proof networks. Even so, most businesses and taxpayers are not in the position to expend significant resources without fully considering the return and the timing of that return. And right now, ITIF points to a possible lull in demand for more speed once speeds get to service- able levels, at least for current usages. “This demonstrates that consumer willingness to pay would likely not justify immediate investment of fiber to the home for every household,” argued ITIF analysts. ITIF points to a 2017 Technology Policy Institute study that suggests a reduction in the perceived value for more bandwidth among consum- ers once they’ve reached 100 Mbps for downloads. To increase their bandwidth from roughly 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps, users were only willing to pay an additional $20 (roughly 2 cents per Mbps). But to move from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps, users in the study were willing to pay an additional $12 (24 cents per Mbps). The largest jump in willingness to pay occurred when consumers shifted from 10 Mbps to 25 Mbps, where consumers valued, on average, each additional Mbps at roughly $2.50. Demand for multi- gigabit speeds likewise appears to be lacking across all countries, said ITIF analysts, including in places with gigabit-capable infrastructures or near- universal fiber-to-the-home for years. “Like many trends that once appeared exponential, there are good indications that the bandwidth needs for home access are starting to plateau, with demand tapering off as speeds achieve effective real-time streaming of high-quality video,” said ITIF researchers. According to speed test averages in August by Ookla, average U.S. broadband household downstream speed was 156.61 Mbps, ranking 11th in the world. In the same test, global broadband leader South Korea came in at an average of 159.98 Mbps – a whopping difference of 3.37 Mbps. An analysis of subscriber usage by OpenVault, meanwhile, showed average broadband downstream speed of 169.8 Mbps. According to recent OECD figures on fixed broad- band subscriptions per 100 inhabit- ants for December 2019, the highest concentration of U.S. inhabitants sits in the > 100 Mbps to < 1 Gig subscrip- tion tier – by more than double any other service tier. Compared to the rest of the world, the U.S. is eighth in terms of percentage of inhabit- ants currently accessing downstream speeds of 100 Mbps or above. At average speeds of about 160 Mbps and growing, ITIF argues, U.S. consumers’ current appetite for more bandwidth may be satiated, or at least at a point where it is content for now. Certainly, up to 1 Gbps is enough speed to handle a simultaneous handful of the most popular entertain- ment and work applications, such as multiple screens of streaming services, gaming, video learning and conferenc- ing, and security and surveillance, according to ITIF’s assessments of system requirements as of November 2020 (see table). ITIF also points to “Gig City” Chattanooga, Tenn., which was one of the first U.S. cities to roll out a citywide gigabit network, and where in 2015, the city-owned fiber internet run by the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga (EPB) reached 10-gigabit speeds. A local school community there, in partnership with municipal broad- band provider EPB, is deploying free Internet to students from low-income families through its HCS EdConnect Program. The program will provide 100 Mbps internet service, which program administrators state is “more than enough broadband capacity and data to participate in video-based learning and other high bandwidth educational applications.” Even the current crop of VR and AR tools and toys being devel- oped aren’t yet pushing the limits of single-gig services in a way OVBI Average U.S. Broadband Household Average bandwidth usage 384 GB Average downstream usage 359 GB Average downstream speed 169.8 Mbps Average upstream usage 25 GB Average upstream speed 131.1 Mbps Average number of connected devices 10.37 Average number of streaming services 4 Source: OpenVault Broadband Index Fixed Broadband Subscriptions per 100 Inhabitants, Per Speed Tiers, Dec. 2019 <1.5/2 Mbps ≥ 1.5Mbps; <10Mbps ≥ 10Mbps; <30Mbps ≥ 25/30Mbps; <100Mbps ≥ 100Mbps; <1 Gig ≥ 1 Gig Total ≥ 100Mbps Korea 0.0 0.1 0.3 3.2 35.7 3.0 38.7 Sweden 0.1 1.8 4.1 2.7 29.3 1.4 30.7 Portugal 0.1 0.2 5.7 2.7 29.3 0.6 29.9 Switzerland 0.0 1.8 2.9 11.9 22.6 7.3 29.9 Iceland 0.0 0.1 1.6 10.3 14.0 12.6 26.6 Canada 0.0 1.6 2.5 10.4 19.8 6.4 26.2 Belgium 0.1 0.6 1.0 13.1 25.2 0.0 25.2 Spain 0.1 1.1 4.7 1.7 24.9 0.0 24.9 U.S. 0.2 2.5 4.0 6.7 20.6 0.7 21.3 Luxembourg 0.0 4.3 7.1 5.3 20.0 0.3 20.3 Source: OECD, top 10 by highest concentration in ≥ 100Mbps tiers Zettabytes 26 CHANNEL V ISION | January - February, 2021