ITU: "Internet bandwidth has grown exponentially over the last five years"

    

Some facts from the ITU's "The World in 2011 - ICT: Fact and Figures" (here):

• One third of the world’s population is online
   
• With 5.9 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions, global penetration reaches 87%, and 79% in the developing world
   
• Mobile-broadband subscriptions have
  grown 45% annually over the last four years and today there are twice as many mobile-broadband as fixed broadband subscriptions
   
• Of 1.8 billion households worldwide, one third have Internet access, compared to only one fifth
  five years ago
   
• International Internet bandwidth, a key factor for providing high-speed Internet access to a growing number of Internet users has grown exponentially over the last five years, from 11’000 Gbit/s in 2006, to close to 80’000 Gbit/s in 2011 (see chart)
   
• Advertised and real speeds can differ substantially. In some countries, regulatory authorities monitor the speed and quality of broadband services and oblige operators to provide accurate quality-of-service information to end users information to end users

For the last point see also "UK: Transparency for Unlimited and "up-to" Service Speeds" - here.