Due to COVID-19, broadband usage spikes 47% in Q1, nearly surpassing all of 2020's projections
The coronavirus pandemic has driven broadband usage levels by 47% year-over-year in the first quarter, according to a report by OpenVault.
OpenVault, which collects U.S. cable subscribers' usage behaviors and puts them into data sets, said the average broadband consumption increased from 273.5 GB in the first quarter of last year to 402.5 GB in the recent first quarter. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, OpenVault had projected that the average consumption would reach 425 GB by the end of the year. Instead, due in large part to subscriber self-quarantines and work from home policies, OpenVault said the average monthly usage for April was on track to top 460 GB.
The areas with the sharpest growth in this year's first quarter were the power uses of 1 TB or more, and "extreme" power uses of 2 TB or more. The percentage of subscribers who were power users in reached 10%, which was an increase of 138% over the 4.2% of power users in the same quarter a year ago. Extreme power users represented 1.2% of all subscribers, up 215% from 0.38% year over year.
OpenVault had projected earlier this year that by the end of 2020 power users and extreme power users would represent 12% and 1.4%, respectively, of all subscribers.
https://www.fiercetelecom.com/operators/due-to-covid-19-broadband-usage-spikes-47-q1-nearly-surpassing-all-2020-s-projections?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWlRsak5ETTVPR05rWldZNCIsInQiOiI4bjJZMWpmaWZpdmllU1B0RnFjSnNaVmd4WDlqK0x1RVN4dUluUFVMblozS2M4KzE1NE8yT29NZUErTVdNWEhVZTlEZ29zT0dYd0dYZjBPWHpkbHNSV0dZTG9uNDlYNmdCTGJBb2tFKzZFSnBkZWNPdXdwRU82TXI3ME5UR3B1dyJ9&mrkid=8465628
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