The World Cup starting will probably shatter records for Internet traffic on rising demand for video applications, according to the Web service company Akamai Technologies Inc. About 20 percent of the world's Internet traffic is delivered over Akamai's platform, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company.

Internet service providers and mobile-phone operators are upgrading networks to handle unprecedented demand for data-hungry applications, driven in part by Apple Inc.'s iPad.

"The biggest single event we've seen so far was the Obama inauguration. That exceeded a terabit a second" on Akamai's networks, said Akamai Chief Scientist Tom Leighton. "Our thought is that the World Cup will probably triple or quadruple that."