Fibre-optic broadband services are set to become increasingly popular over the next few years, according to new research.

The study by ABI Research found that while 44 million people were found to use such services worldwide, 106 million are expected to subscribe to them by 2014.

It is believed that 11 per cent of worldwide fixed broadband consumers subscribe to fibre services, although this is set to rise by 20 per cent over the next five years.

Khin Sandi Lynn, Research Associate at ABI Research, said: "Filesharing, music downloads, IPTV, online gaming and video conferencing are all acting to increase the user demand for high speed internet.

"The number of fibre broadband subscribers is increasing with growing popularity of these services."

News of the study has come after BT recently confirmed the launch of its new Infinity fibre optic broadband service, which offers connection speeds of up to 40Mb.