As recently as two decades ago, the vast majority of homes and businesses were in the dark ages of connectivity, lacking even basic dial-up Internet service. Fast forward to today: The high-speed broadband industry has grown by leaps and bounds, emerging as the backbone of the business world. Broadband network usage is quickly growing in the residential consumer sector too. In fact, by the end of 2015, an astounding 765 million homes across the globe will be broadband-enabled. That represents roughly 38 percent of all households on earth.

Despite this explosion in broadband usage, the industry is still in its infancy, as the demand for ubiquitous broadband connectivity is just getting rolling.

Right now, for instance, three out of every four Americans still lack the basic Internet service speed and broadband necessary for utilizing many of today’s online services. This is a big problem when considering how reliant on the Web we are becoming. As it stands, the consumer market is being continually flooded with connected, data-generating devices and systems that depend on high-speed connectivity to operate—from connected toothbrushes to connected cars. Yet a large percentage of the American population cannot properly utilize them due to a basic lack of high-speed broadband.

It’s time to recognize this urgent need for high-speed connectivity and the amazing opportunity at hand to drive profits. The more profit generated, the more money can be pumped back into the network for faster and more reliable service.

As we mentioned in a recent blog post, the best way to generate more revenue and grow your broadband business today is to look for ways of pumping more value through your broadband pipeline. Invest in offering premium, top-of-the-line connections with fast speeds, and then you can justify increasing your rates. Next, you can take the additional revenue that you generate and use it to make your network larger and more accessible to customers. It’s a sure-fire recipe for growth that involves spending more in the short term to enhance your infrastructure, but will pay dividends in the future.