What’s the GDP benefit of community-wide gigabit Internet?

A new study (PDF) released this month by the Fiber to the Home Council Americas found that communities with widely available gigabit Internet access have a per capita GDP 1.1 percent higher than communities without. The study examined 55 communities in nine states, and of the communities examined, 14 had gigabit access. The GDP advantage of those communities totaled $1.4 billion. The study also concluded that those 41 communities without gigabit Internet access lost as much as $3.3 billion in 2012 GDP.