The number of gigabit broadband subscribers worldwide is expected to jump to 50 million by 2022.

According to a new report from market research firm Omdia, the number of gigabit broadband subscribers worldwide is expected to jump to 50 million by 2022, more than double the 24 million at the end of 2020.

Peter Boyland, chief analyst at Omdia Broadband, said: "the demand for reliable broadband will drive the growth of gigabit services, in which optical fiber networks play a key role."

Omdia says the acceleration of fiber-optic network deployment has helped drive the increase in gigabit connections. "by the end of 2020, the number of global optical network users is less than 620 million, but we expect that number to increase to 719 million in 2022," the analyst wrote. "most of the growth in optical fiber users will occur in the Chinese market."

"by the end of 2020, the number of global FTTH/B consumer contracts was slightly less than 618 million, accounting for about 58 per cent of the total number of broadband connections. we expect this number to grow by more than 100m to 719 million in 2022, accounting for 62 per cent of all broadband subscribers." Omdia wrote.