Gigabit-speed internet service options are finally seeing tangible market penetration, with broadband research and consultancy firm OpenVault reporting that 5% of U.S. broadband connections had speeds of 1 Gbps or higher as of the end of June.

That amounts to 133% year-over-year growth, according to the Hoboken, N.J.-based company.

Also read: Residential Internet Usage Surges 98% Amid COVID-19-related Social Distancing

About 61% of all high-speed internet subscribers in the U.S. now have connections of 100 Mbps or faster, a one-year increase of 27%, OpenVault added.

Usage Levels Off

Pandemic-era usage habits continue to drive data usage growth: Upstream data usage increased by 56% year-over-year in the second quarter, with users more engaged in activities such as videoconferencing.

But usage patterns are also leveling off a bit, since the early pandemic peak period around March. Total average data usage declined from 402 gigabytes per month to 380 GB in the second quarter—still up 36% over the average of 280 GB at the end of the second quarter of 2019.

Notably, in the second quarter, with usage caps removed by operators including Comcast, data consumption by customers on usage-based billing plans increased by nearly 42% year over year, from 262.9 GB to 372.8 GB. 

Around 63% of U.S. housing units have access to gigabit-or-higher internet speeds, according to data released Thursday by CableLabs.

Of those housing units, 74% of them exist in a cable company’s footprint.

The rise of gigabit-speed access has been steep. Access has increased 7% just in the last three months, the jointly operated cable industry consortium said. And as recently as December 2016, only 4% of U.S. domiciles had gigabit speed access.

“Cable’s deployment of high-capacity broadband networks is enabling the gigabit services of today and the symmetric multi-gigabit services of tomorrow,” said Mark Walker, director of technology policy for CableLabs, in a blog post. “With the wide availability of gigabit service and beyond, the broadband infrastructure is in place to power emerging technologies that will transform and enhance our lives through immersive entertainment, next-generation healthcare and a re-imagination of education and work.”

Fiber-based ISP GigaMonster, a specialist in providing gigabit-speed broadband services to the MDU market, announced that it has secured a $45 million investment from Post Road Group.

The Atlanta-based company also announced a merger with Portland, Ore. MDU specialist Fibersphere Communications.

Related: GigaMonster Takes a Bite Out of ISPs

“The $45 million in new capital provides us with the fuel to expand even faster through both future acquisitions and organic growth,” said Bill Dodd, chairman and CEO of GigaMonster, in a statement. “It also allows us to further enhance our standard-setting product offerings as the industry undergoes rapid change. The combination of GigaMonster and Fibersphere significantly increases our West Coast presence and was in perfect alignment with our vision to be the absolute best multifamily internet solution in the market.”

Launching in 2015, GigaMonster has acquired a significant market share in the multi-unit dwelling market, connecting building to its metro fiber rings—a mix of its own dark fiber and fiber acquired from other companies. It has now reached more than 25 markets nationwide with its Scary Fast 1-gig service.

The company did not release an financial specifics on the acquisition of fiber-to-the-home specialist Fibersphere, which was founded in 2002 and is also focused on the MDU market.

“Big cable consistently ranks at the bottom of the worst customer service industry in the country," said Craig Weaver, GigaMonster's customer experience director, in an interview with Multichannel News back in 2016. "As a result, being the best provider as compared to cable is not a worthy goal. We strive to deliver an experience on par with the likes of Amazon and Apple, where customers are the center of our universe and not a necessary evil as they are viewed by our competitors. We are clearly not your parents' Internet service, something we can all be grateful for."