OECD Countries Record 60% Increase in Internet Traffic During COVID-19 Crisis

According to a short study of internet use in OECD countries during the Covid-19 crisis, traffic through internet exchange points has increased by almost 60% as a majority of people are now working, studying, streaming movies, playing online video games, and holding social video calls from their homes.

The study, however, finds that despite the surges in usage reported by internet operators and content and application providers, network operators have been able to maintain broadband services by either making more efficient use of existing capacity or by adding new capacity. 

At the same time, the study has highlighted the following important measures to reduce the risk of internet outages:

• Make sure mobility restrictions do not prevent engineers carrying out critical operations in datacentres, at critical infrastructure locations and at customer sites, including people’s homes.
• Ensure the continuity of hardware supplies, particularly where there are border closures.
• Alleviate congestion in mobile networks by temporarily releasing additional spectrum or by approving temporary commercial spectrum transactions between providers that put unused spectrum into service.
• Lighten administrative burdens to help operators deploy networks rapidly.

Network operators and governments across the globe are also working to ensure that connectivity and communication services continue to operate in a reliable, stable, and secure manner.