OVBI: Highest users consuming almost 1 TB of upstream per month
Jersey City, NJ; May 15, 2024 –A small but growing group of extreme power users is contributing to a steady rise in upstream consumption in broadband cable networks, according to the latest edition of the OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report. The report was issued today by OpenVault, a market-leading source of SaaS-based revenue and network improvement solutions and data-driven insights for the broadband industry.
Extreme power users of 5 TB or more per month consume almost 1 TB – 956 GB, on average – of upstream bandwidth per month, magnifying their impact on the most capacity-constrained part of the cable broadband network. Their usage is the latest factor leading to almost-uninterrupted upstream growth.
While downstream consumption experienced a 6% decline in 1Q24 vs. the previous quarter, in line with historical seasonal patterns, the OVBI 1Q24 report noted that upstream usage rose slightly during the same period. First quarter usage of 40.4 GB was a small increase over the 40.1 average at the end of 2023, and 13.1% above the 35.7 GB recording in 1Q23.
“Ensuring optimal downstream quality remains important, but operators will do well to focus
significant attention on the upstream plant,” the report observes. “Increased traffic – especially at the hands of a growing group of extreme power users of 5 TB or more – shows no sign of abating. At current usage rates, each new extreme power user adds almost 1 TB of upstream traffic on a single node.”
Other key findings in the 1Q24 report include:
- The monthly average data usage was 605.8 GB, up 8.1% year over year from 560.5 GB in 1Q23 and down 5.5% from 641.0 GB in 4Q23.
- Year-over-year median usage growth, an indicator of rising consumption across all subscribers, was 5.4%, lagging behind the 8.1% average usage growth, due to the impact of power users, super power users and extreme power users who individually consume high volumes of data.
- Consumption is growing fastest among the most prolific users: Usage among power users of 1 TB or more per month was up 15% year-over-year, while super power usage (2 TB or more) increased 30% and extreme power usage (5 TB or more) rose 57%.
- More than one-third of all subscribers were provisioned for gigabit speeds in 1Q24, an increase of 20% over the same period a year ago.
“Increased deployments of DOCSIS 3.1, DOCSIS 3.1+, and DOCSIS 4.0 networks are driving the need for new monitoring and network management solutions,” the report concludes. “While these technology advancements provide the speed necessary to meet subscriber demands, they are also amplifying the risks of poor QoE due to network impairments. Profile Management Application (PMA), Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM), and other automated solutions can optimize both network performance and subscriber experiences.”
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.
For more information, please visit openvault.com.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Kristen Nihamin at knihamin@openvault.com or 917-509-9028
Paul Schneider at paul@paulschneiderpr.com or 215-817-4384