Broadband demand growth approaching a plateau, suggests OpenVault

April 9, 2020

The company reached this conclusion after its data showed downstream rates declining 5.80% the week of March 30–April 3 versus the previous week.

Stephen Hardy

OpenVault, which provides data usage measurement and analysis capabilities to its network operator customers, says that broadband consumption growth related to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic shows signs of leveling in markets that the company described as “quarantined.” The company reached this conclusion after its data showed downstream rates declining 5.80% the week of March 30–April 3 versus the previous week.

OpenVault says the downstream decline followed three weeks of double-digit growth. And while upstream use continued to grow between March 30 and April 3, the increase was only 2.3%.

“It’s too early to say that the industry has weathered the storm of additional usage, but signs point to the greatest surge of growth by far as being behind us,” said Mark Trudeau, CEO and founder of OpenVault. “Operators will need to keep close eyes on any incremental increases – particularly during peak hours and in the upstream – as well as the impact of new quarantines in additional markets, but their networks seem in the meantime to be well-prepared to handle this increased data consumption.”

The coronavirus-related demand spike in “quarantined” markets has seem usage jump 33.1% compared to January levels, reports OpenVault. Within this period, OpenVault found:

Average daily downstream consumption between 9 AM and 5 PM March 30–April 3 was 6.35 GB, 42.46% higher than the January level of 4.46 GB.
Average daily business hour upstream use rose 82.5% from January through April 3, from 0.215 GB to 0.392 GB.
Use during the 6:00 PM to midnight peak hours also has increase, with downstream consumption up 21.15% from January and upstream up 35.95%.
Overall daily usage grew from 12.19 GB in January to 16.22 GB through April 3.

Bandwidth demand hasn’t grown as strongly in areas without strong stay-at-home measures. In these markets, from January through April 3, OpenVault says average daily data consumption rose 38.2% during the 9-to-5 PM weekday hours, while peak hour usage has risen 8.0% per day in these markets.

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About the Author

Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave

Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.

Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.

He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.

You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.