Study: Monthly Broadband Usage to Approach 700 GB Mark by Year’s End

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The OVBI report also says a new “extreme power user” category has emerged

Fiber optic
(Image credit: Pixabay)

JERSEY CITY, N.J.—Broadband use continues to climb and will approach or surpass 700 GB per month on average this year and 1 TB (Terabyte) within five, according to the latest edition of the OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report.

Last year, monthly average broadband consumption surpassed 600 GB for the first time, reaching 641 GB per month. The growth extended the multi-year trend of 9% or greater annual growth in usage. Based on this growth, the Q4 2023 edition of the OVBI projects broadband use will exceed 1 TB per month on average by the end of 2028.

The report also revealed the percentage of high-volume broadband users continues to grow. So-called “power users” of 1 TB or more have climbed 437% and “super power users” of 2 TB or more have grown 1,235% since 2018. “Extreme power users,” a new category consisting of those who consume 5 TB or more of broadband per month rose 71% in 2023 alone, according to the OVBI report.

Commercial customers are contributing to significant growth in upstream traffic, which has risen by 158.48% since 2018, it said.

“The combined impact of these growth factors is amplifying the need for increased operator focus on network performance and Quality of Experience (QoE), especially as operators deploy DOCSIS 3.1 and DOCSIS 4.0 technologies,” the report said. “Studies show that slow or inconsistent internet speed and repeated connection issues erode customer satisfaction and loyalty more than any other factor.”

Among the latest findings:

  • Monthly average data use was 641 GB, up 9.3% year over year from 586.7 GB at the end of 2022 and up 16.5% from the 550.2 GB in Q3 ‘23.
  • The 71% rise in extreme power users of 5 TB or more was just part of the growth across all power user categories: power users of 1 TB or more per month now account for 21.6% of all subscribers; while the percentage of super power users grew 37% to 4.7%.
  • Nearly 40% of all users provisioned for gigabit speeds are power users.
  • Commercial subscribers’ 68 GB of monthly upstream usage is 74% higher than the 39 GB used monthly by residential subscribers.

OpenVault chief product officer Brady Volpe and CEO and founder Mark Trudeau will discuss the findings during a webinar Feb. 15 at 11 a.m. EST. Registration is available online.

The entire report is available online.

Phil Kurz
Phil Kurz

Phil Kurz is a contributing editor to TV Tech. He has written about TV and video technology for more than 30 years and served as editor of three leading industry magazines. He earned a Bachelor of Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism.