300 Million Online by 2005

The global Internet population will reach 250 million in 2002, and 300 million by 2005, according to a report by Datamonitor.

In the report “The Future of the Internet,” Datamonitor said it expects most of the Internet growth in the coming years to come from the developing markets of Asia and South America. An earlier report by Ovum predicted 206 million dial-up connections and 17.5 million permanent connections to the Internet in the year 2005.

Datamonitor also predicts a rise the volume of Internet traffic attributable to video- and audio-intensive applications. While the company forecasts use of the World Wide Web to be the fastest-growing Internet application in the short term, audio and video will rise significantly.

At present, video/audio screening account for 2 percent of Internet traffic according to Datamonitor. By 2003, the company predicts this number will rise to 6 percent. High-bandwidth networks will fuel growth in the audio/video sector, as well as fax and voice servers in the future, according to Datamonitor.