The Difference Between Voice and Video Bandwidth

In a recent conversation with a financial analyst, the matter of Internet video bandwidth came up. The simple observation was that video consumes an order of magnitude (10 times) to two orders of magnitude (100 times) more bandwidth than voice does.

The implication, of course, is that if online video consumption becomes popular, it represents a network engineering and challenge potentially 10 to 100 times more complicated than was the case for access networks built for voice. 

That isn't to say costs scale precisely that way, but it suggests the dimensions of the cost problem for any network services provider charged with adding that much bandwidth. 

The cost of deploying a fiber-to-the-cabinet (fiber to the neighborhood) network in the United Kingdom, for example, has been estimated at £5.1 billion. The cost of a fiber-to-the-home network is estimated at £28.8 billion, according to the Broadband Stakeholder Group. 

The immediate difference in potential bandwidth might not be an order of magnitude. But the potential bandwidth difference ranges from an order of magnitude and up.