The emergence of global players, cheap broadband services and free Internet access services are feeding such growth, the market research company added.
Free Internet access services are popular in Europe and are catching on in the U.S. and Australia.
During the dotcom boom, the idea got about that there could be such a thing as a free lunch, or at least free internet services.
For users of the free Internet services that are proliferating across Europe, the catch comes in the telephone bill, as charges for making calls to connect to these services.
The users it has registered to its, mostly free, internet access services, will climb to 10.7 million from 6.8 million after the Liberty Surf takeover.
Ninety-nine percent of Google's revenues come from ads, either the ones it puts next to free Internet-based services like search and e-mail, or through syndication on third-party Web pages.
Carrier text services are under attack by free texting services offered by Apple, Blackberry, and various Internet-based providers (free because the bandwidth needed to enable texting is minimal).
Starting in the first quarter of 2013, textPlus free text and calling services will be integrated into FreedomPop's free wireless internet offering.
ENGADGET: FreedomPop pals up with TextPlus to offer free SMS Mobile
We may be entitled to free Internet (though that's a topic for another column), but we are not entitled to free services.
On Jan. 3, Free, one of the major providers of Internet services in France, decided to block ads over the Internet for its 5 million subscribers.
While free Web services produced just 6% of the Internet's pill-hawking and scam-pitching e-mail a year ago, automated spam programs exploiting Web e-mail services now produce more than 12% of digital junk mail, with Microsoft's Webmail services alone accounting for around 4%.
Like so many services that were free in the early days of the Internet, annoyances such as endless pop-up ads and poor design were often unavoidable.
FORBES: Resurrecting 'The Deleted City' Of The Internet's Early Pioneers
The company may be forced increase its marketing spend and offer additional services like watching videos from its library over the Internet for free or minimal costs.
FORBES: Dish Faces Slew Of Issues But Stock Still Gets To $25
On the one side, carriers want to cling on to financial control of the airwaves, while on the other, Internet giants like Google want it free and increasingly populated by people using their services.
FORBES: What Would Happen If America Got Free, 'Nationwide' WiFi? Google Wins, Carriers Lose
There were "local area networks" and "online services" available before the Internet, but none that made individuals free to network on their own.
This is something they are already seeing with regard to SMS revenues with the advent of mobile messaging services like WhatsApp, Pinger, and GroupMe, which use the Internet to send free text messages.
FORBES: Google Might Be Planning Free Nationwide Wi-Fi Since The FCC Isn't
The TV Everywhere initiative by cable providers is an attempt to retain subscribers by offering a choice of free on-demand viewing over the internet on the condition of subscription to their pay TV services.
FORBES: Cable Guys Fight Off Netflix And Wii With Video On-Demand
Facebook already offers communications-related services that are natural to mobile devices, such as Messenger, which allows for free Internet voice calls, at least on the iPhone.
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