An anticipated spike in power users of 1 TB or more of broadband data and a disconnect in the traditional relationship between provisioned speeds and data consumption are creating new challenges for operators, according to the latest edition of the OpenVault Broadband Insights report.
The report was issued today by OpenVault, a source of SaaS-based revenue and network improvement solutions and data-driven insights for the broadband industry.
According to the report, the percentage of Power Users – including Super Power Users of 2 TB or more and Extreme Power Users of 5 TB or more – surged to 18.2% of all subscribers in 2Q 2024 and will exceed 20% of all subscribers by the end of this year. The 2Q 2024 edition of the report also highlights the increasing inability of broadband providers to predict usage patterns based simply on provisioned speeds.
Using data from operators serving millions of subscribers, the report graphs the wide variations that have emerged between speeds and consumption: For example, the network with the highest monthly downstream usage (730 GB) had the third slowest average provisioned downstream speed (247.1 Mbps), while the network with the lowest downstream traffic (393 GB) had the second fastest average downstream speed (559 Mbps). A second example shows how an operator with slower average provisioned speeds and higher average usage had half the congestion of a faster, less-trafficked counterpart. The findings illustrate the impact of network health on Quality of Experience (QoE), subscriber satisfaction, and retention.
“Given the new disconnect between speeds and consumption, operators are increasing their focus on network health,” the report notes. “Recognizing that faster speeds alone may not improve the QoE needle, they are now taking steps to ensure subscribers receive the speed and reliability for which they are paying.”
Other key findings in the 1Q24 report include:
– The monthly average data usage was 585.8 GB, up 9.7% year over year from 533.8 GB in 2Q23.
– Power Users’ upstream activity grew by a prodigious 34% from the second quarter of 2023, double the rate of Power Users’ downstream growth.
– Upstream usage was 41.5 GB, up 15.9% over the 35.8 GB observed in 2Q23 and well ahead of the 9.3% growth in downstream consumption during the same period.
– While downstream traffic experiences seasonal fluctuations, upstream consumption is almost invariably headed upward. Upstream usage of 41.5 GB increased 2.7% vs. 1Q24’s 40.4 GB, while downstream traffic of 544.3% representated a 3.7% decline from 1Q24’s 565.4 GB.