Just like any resources on earth, the Internet has its own limitations as well. With so many high-bandwidth applications such as VoIP, video streaming, file sharing, and multimedia downloads, the growing demand is projected to outpace the network capacity within the next 3 to 5 years.

According to the study of Nemertes Research, this will trigger Internet brownouts – interruption or slow down of many online applications like e-commerce stores, video-sharing, and downloads. To make matters worse, it can also hold back the pace of innovation.

In the U.S. alone, about $42 billion to $55 billion is required to bridge the gap between the demand and capacity. This is on top of the $72 billion service providers are planning to invest.

“We need to take steps now to ensure continued improvement of the broadband infrastructure in North America meets the projected demand. To encourage the necessary investment to ensure a positive user experience, it is important for the right tax, commercial and policy environment to be in place,” said Bruce Mehlman, co-chair of the Internet Innovation Alliance.

As expected, there are some analysts who do not believe in this study.

“I think it’s a little premature to suggest that at 2010 we’re going to hit a crossover point and all of sudden things are going to slow down. I think that significantly underestimates the capability of the market to introduce products and services to meet this growing demand,” said Carmi Levy, the senior vice-president of strategic consulting for AR Communications Inc, in a news article.