COVID-19 Netgem TV and Vodafone Update on Internet Traffic

Both Netgem TV and UK telecoms giant Vodafone have separately today released some updated statistics on the impact that the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis is having on broadband and video streaming usage, which has naturally seen a big increase since the situation began because many people are now stuck at home.

Firstly the Netgem TV (IPTV) platform, which has been adopted by a number of ultrafast broadband ISPs, reveals that video streaming usage on their service has increased over 40% in the weeks since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the illness to be a pandemic.

Apparently the above change translates to a total increase of more than 1 hour per day spent across the company’s free and video on demand content (e.g. Amazon Prime, Freeview Play, YouTube etc.). The total daily viewing of Netgem TV has thus hit 5.3 hours.

The analysis also observed the greatest increase around the ‘news’ category, which has seen an increase above 100% in the average hours spent by viewers watching news channels over a 7-day period, compared to that of the same dates in January. The service offers both BBC News and Sky News.

Meanwhile Vodafone informs ISPreview.co.uk that they have seen “unprecedented demand across our mobile, fixed telephony and broadband networks,” although they add that their “network remains reliable and strong, and we’re within our capacity thresholds and are continuing to service our customers in these difficult times.”

Key Statistics from Vodafone UK

Voice Traffic

– An increase of nearly 20% in mobile call traffic on Monday (23 March) versus the previous Monday.

– On a regional basis, we saw a 24% increase in mobile calls made and received in Glasgow, 14% increase in Bristol, 12% in Birmingham, 8% in Manchester and more than 2% in London.

– Across the UK, mobile voice traffic has increased by 56% in the last two weeks.

Broadband Traffic

– Broadband traffic has grown by 15% during the day as more people work and study from home.

– Average daytime usage now mirrors a typical Sunday – typically the busiest day of the week with customers streaming films and TV episodes.

– As customers turn to technologies such as WiFi Calling, we have seen a 28% increase in Voice over the Internet (VoIP) usage at the start of this week.

– In contrast, mobile music streaming traffic reduced by around 16% from the start of the week as customers moved from listening to music on the move to the home over their broadband link.