India's Internet Usage Increased By 40 Percent In COVID-19 Lockdown, Says Report
This is according to a report dubbed ¡®State of the Internet Traffic Trend¡¯, released by ACT Fibernet, which claims to be India¡¯s largest wired internet service provider.
With all of us locked in our homes due to COVID-19, the internet has become the one thing we all depend on -- whether for entertainment, education or work.
However, we might not have realised how much our usage has actually skyrocketed in the past few months -- 40 percent to be exact.
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This is according to a report dubbed ¡®State of the Internet Traffic Trend¡¯, released by ACT Fibernet, which claims to be India¡¯s largest wired internet service provider. They looked at data based on overall traffic and compared the numbers from February to April 2020 in 19 cities where it has cast its net.
The report revealed that out of its entire userbase a whopping 98.7 percent of people were concurrently online, without a break. This rise in demand for internet services is also evident in tier two cities as well.
Rates of downloads and uploads have increased significantly. The average downloads rate increased by 66% and the average uploads rate increased by 37% per month.
Bala Malladi, CEO, Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd explained in the report, "In the last two months, we have seen a significant shift in data consumption across cities as people moved to working from home, spending more time streaming content, indulging in online gaming, taking online classes/course, video conferencing etc."
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While many are working or studying from home, there is also a considerable chunk who are enjoying the lockdown binge-watching their shows and killing time during the lockdown. ACT Fibernet has found out that even though people have started streaming more content today -- 55 percent more than previous, now there is no specific difference between weekday and weekend traffic.
Looking at overall traffic numbers on a weekday-weekend basis, they saw a 73 percent in users during weekdays and a 65 percent increase over the weekend.
How has your internet consumption been like post the lockdown? Have you been more online or offline? Tell us in the comments below.
