New data from TeleGeography has revealed that international Internet traffic grew 53% between mid-2007 and mid-2008, down from 61% the preceding year. Growth between the US and Latin America was especially fast, surging 112%.

However those persistently predicting an Internet crash should be mindful of the fact that total international Internet capacity grew faster than total Internet traffic, leading to lower utilisation levels on many Internet backbones.


Between 2007 and 2008 average traffic utilisation levels decreased from 31% to 29%, while peak utilisation fell from 44% to 43%. The aggregate trend toward lower utilisation of capacity belies significant regional differences. While utilisation on international links to Europe and Asia fell in 2008, they rose in the US & Canada and Latin American where traffic growth outpaced the deployment of new internet bandwidth.


It's not clear precisely what 'slowing' broadband subscriber growth Mauldin is referring to, since global uptake went through an extended boom period between 2000 and 2003/4. More recent statistics have indeed shown a slowdown, with new land-line connections in the UK even seeing a slight decline.