As broadband Internet continues on its course to becoming the “norm”, there is little doubt that companies are looking for methods to drive home a profit. I think that within the next two years, we will see services like Vonage and Skype triple in use as the costs prove to be more efficient that POTS (Plain Old Phone Service) in homes and business with a broadband connection.

Dramatic growth in broadband and digital TV is projected by analysts at Yankee Group, as they project the global consumer services market to pass the $475 billion mark by 2008.

The forecast demonstrates that global broadband household penetration, 3.4 percent in 2002, will rise to an impressive 16 percent by 2008. Analysts point out that there is great variability of what is deemed “broadband” across the globe — the average customer in Europe getting 512 Kbps, while in Japan or Korea, 6 Mbps is not unusual. In the United States, where most customers are accessing broadband via cable modem, 1.5 Mbps is the typical speed.