Demographic factors influencing speed and consumption also charted in 3Q24 OVBI
Jersey City, NJ; November 14, 2024 – The shift in broadband consumption reached a new milestone in the third quarter of 2024, as upstream usage increased at a rate that was more than double that of downstream growth. The findings were reported in the latest edition of the OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report issued today by OpenVault, a market-leading source of SaaS-based revenue and network improvement solutions and data-driven insights for the broadband industry.
According to the report, year-over-year upstream growth ticked higher to 13.9% in 3Q24, while downstream usage increased just 6.8% – the lowest figure since OpenVault began breaking out downstream and upstream data in 2017. Overall growth was 7.2%, the lowest year-over-year rate recorded by OpenVault.
The expanding gap between upstream and downstream growth rates continues a trend that OpenVault analysis has identified throughout the modern broadband era: With the exception of the pandemic, downstream growth rates have slowed each year, while the rate of increase in the upstream has trended steadily upward, even as the total volume of downstream and upstream usage continues to rise.
“Addressing upstream constraints within the DOCSIS environment will be essential as subscriber behavior evolves, putting added pressure on networks,” the report notes. “With upstream data usage now growing at more than twice the rate of downstream usage, the need for ongoing monitoring and network adaptability to maintain high Quality of Experience amid rising demand is crucial.”
In addition to the focus on upstream and downstream growth rates, the 3Q24 OVBI report also looked for the first time at usage by selected demographic groups. Among the findings:
- Households with incomes under $50,000 per year had the highest average monthly data usage (639 GB), despite having the slowest average internet speeds (530 Mbps).
- Consumption and speeds ranged from 397 GB and 578 Mbps for a single-person household, to 1.125 TB and 833 Mbps for a household of four.
- Speeds and subscriber behavior were consistent between urban and rural markets, demonstrating the impact of providers’ upgrades in rural areas.
The entire report is at https://openvault.com/resources/ovbi/.
About OpenVault
OpenVault and OpenVault Europe GmbH are market-leading sources of broadband technology solutions and data-driven insights into worldwide broadband consumption patterns. Using the companies’ cloud-based SaaS or on-premises solutions and tools, service providers can optimize network performance, increase revenue, and improve subscriber satisfaction. OpenVault and OpenVault Europe aggregate and analyze the resulting market data to provide unparalleled granular views of consumer usage that can be used to anticipate residential and business broadband trends. This data analysis drives a suite of actionable and automated solutions, providing operators with tremendous value through software and avoiding the need for large-scale infrastructure spending.
For more information, please visit openvault.com.
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