AT&T urges investment to prevent internet meltdown in 2010

The internet is in danger of reaching full capacity by 2010 without improvements in infrastructure, according to AT&T.

Jim Cicconi, vice president of legislative affairs at the US telecommunications firm, warned that changing trends in online usage would require an estimated investment of $130 billion to meet rapidly growing consumer demand.

He said: "The surge in online content is at the centre of the most dramatic changes affecting the internet today.

"In three years' time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire internet today."

Mr Cicconi claimed that video and user-generated content were driving this growth, which could see online traffic rise by 5,000 per cent in less than seven years.

New high-speed fibre optics are needed to prevent networks from becoming overloaded as a result of visits to websites such as You Tube and BBC's iPlayer.

Video currently accounts for 30 per cent of all internet usage but this figure is expected to reach 80 per cent by 2010.