By Chris Thomas | 6 August 2026
A few years ago, a 1Gbps internet connection felt like more than enough for most organisations. Today, the picture looks very different.
AI tools, cloud applications, video collaboration, connected devices and increasingly distributed workforces are all placing greater demands on business connectivity.
What once felt like a comfortable amount of capacity can quickly become a bottleneck during busy periods. The question for IT leaders is no longer whether their network can support today’s requirements. It’s whether their business connectivity is ready for what comes next.
Many businesses do not actually consume 1Gbps of bandwidth all the time. The challenge is that demand is becoming increasingly unpredictable.
Connectivity is a little like road capacity. It’s not the average number of cars that causes problems. It’s what happens when everyone wants to use the road at the same time.
A large Microsoft Teams meeting, an automated cloud backup, a file synchronisation and an AI-powered workload can all compete for bandwidth simultaneously. When that happens, congestion begins to appear and users start to feel the impact.
The result?
• Slower access to cloud applications
• Increased latency for voice and video
• Delays when transferring large files
• Reduced performance during peak periods
The network may still be functioning, but employees, customers and partners notice when digital experiences become slower or less reliable.
Moving to a 10Gbps bearer is not necessarily about using ten times more bandwidth today. It is about creating headroom for tomorrow. For many organisations, the journey starts with understanding whether FTTP, EoFTTP or Ethernet is the most appropriate foundation for future growth.
A 10Gbps bearer allows organisations to start with a lower committed bandwidth while retaining the ability to scale quickly as requirements grow. Instead of replacing the underlying circuit in a few years, businesses can simply increase their bandwidth allocation.
This provides:
• Greater flexibility for future growth
• Faster upgrades without infrastructure changes
• Improved resilience during demand spikes
• Reduced risk of connectivity becoming a business bottleneck
Think of it as building a motorway instead of a country lane. You may not need all the lanes on day one, but you’ll be glad they’re there when traffic increases.
For many organisations, that’s the real benefit. It’s not about what you need now. It’s about avoiding expensive and disruptive upgrades later.
As AI adoption accelerates, it could become one of the biggest drivers of bandwidth growth over the next few years.
Think about what’s happening behind the scenes every time an employee uses Microsoft Copilot, queries an AI assistant, analyses a large dataset or automates part of a business process. Information is constantly moving between users, cloud platforms and data services. As we explored in our blog on the biggest networking challenges facing IT managers in 2026, AI is not only increasing traffic volumes but also changing how networks are managed and optimised.
Individually, these interactions seem relatively small. Multiply them across hundreds of employees, however, and the demands on the network quickly begin to grow.
Many organisations are only at the beginning of their AI journey. As adoption increases, so too will the volume of traffic between people, applications and cloud environments.
Organisations that design networks around yesterday’s requirements may find themselves revisiting connectivity decisions sooner than expected.
Modern organisations rely on dozens of digital services that all share one thing in common: they depend on reliable business connectivity.
Whether it’s a customer calling your contact centre, an employee collaborating through Microsoft Teams, security systems monitoring threats, SaaS applications supporting daily operations, or SD-WAN keeping sites connected, the network sits behind every interaction.
Much like the foundations of a building, it’s rarely noticed when it’s doing its job well. But when capacity starts to become constrained, the impact can be felt across the entire organisation.
A 10Gbps bearer helps ensure your network can keep pace with innovation, providing a platform that supports business growth rather than restricting it.
Business connectivity is no longer just a utility. It is a strategic enabler of user experience, productivity and digital transformation.
When reviewing connectivity options, the question should not simply be “What bandwidth do we need today?”, but rather “If our bandwidth demand doubled over the next few years, would our current connectivity strategy still keep pace?”
That’s the challenge many organisations are beginning to face as cloud adoption, AI initiatives and digital services continue to expand. For those organisations, a 10Gbps bearer can provide the flexibility, scalability and long-term value needed to adapt with confidence.
Most organisations have a good understanding of their connectivity requirements today. However, far fewer have visibility of what those requirements could look like as their AI adoption, cloud services and digital workloads continue to grow.
Bistech’s complimentary Network Health Check helps you understand your current utilisation, identify potential bottlenecks and assess whether your business connectivity is ready for future growth. Speak to our networking specialists today to discover whether a 10Gbps bearer could provide the headroom needed to support your ambitions.
Start with a complimentary Network Health Check today
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