JERSEY CITY, N.J.—A new report from OpenVault highlights some of the major challenges facing broadband service providers with new data showing an anticipated spike in “Power Users” of 1 TB or more of broadband data and a growing disconnect in the traditional relationship between provisioned speeds and data consumption. 

The latest edition of the OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report found that 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, said OpenVault, a provider of broadband technology solutions and data-driven insights into worldwide broadband consumption patterns. 

“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.

The entire report is at https://openvault.com/resources/ovbi/.

OpenVault CEO and founder Mark Trudeau will discuss the findings and their implications for the industry on a webinar on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 11 a.m. EST.  Registration is available here. 

HOBOKEN, N.J.—Broadband usage climbed 47% in the first quarter of the year—nearly surpassing expected growth for all of 2020—as the public quarantines to limit possible exposure to the COVID-19 illness, according to the latest usage report from OpenVault.

“Nearly all the growth in broadband usage we would have expected for 2020 has now been achieved in the first quarter, with much of it concentrated in the last two weeks of the quarter,” says the Q1 2020 OpenVault Broadband Insights report. “The COVID-19 pandemic changed broadband usage patterns in substantial ways, perhaps permanently.”

At the end of the first quarter, average monthly broadband consumption jumped to 402.5 GB, a 47% increase over the 273.5 GB registered for the same period last year and a 17% rise over the 344 GB in the fourth quarter of 2019, says the report. In April, monthly usage was on track for 460 GB, the report says.

OpenVault’s forecast made earlier in the year for monthly broadband consumption by the end of 2020 was 425 GB, according to the report.

The sharpest growth was among what OpenVault terms “power users,” who consume 1 TB or more, and “extreme power users,” who consume 2 TB or more. In the first quarter, 10% of broadband subscribers were power users, up 138% over the first quarter of 2019 when 4.2% were power users, it says.

Extreme power users in the quarter represented 1.2% of the total, a 215% increase from the same quarter in 2019.

The report also finds:

• Broadband quotas were relaxed in much of March, and subscribers with usage-based billing plans (UBB) responded, increasing usage 49.05% for the quarter, while those with flat-rate billing (FRB) plans grew usage 44.42%. 
• Median usage across UBB and FRB plans was 233.6 GB, up 60% from 146 GB in the first quarter last year and up 22% from 190.7 GB at the end of 2019. The rate of increase in median growth accelerated to 122% during the first quarter of 2020. 
• As more people rely on videoconferencing to work from home during the pandemic, upstream usage rose sharply in March.
• Increased use looks to be motivating subscribers to increase speeds. Subscribers provisioned for gigabit-speed service grew 97% to 3.75% in the first quarter—up from the same quarter in 2019 when 1.9% were so outfitted. The figure also represents a rise of 34% from the 2.8% level registered at the end of 2019. 

“Broadband operators will need to understand the implications of this shifting broadband usage behavior and plan their network performance capabilities accordingly,” says the report. 

PLUS: Broadband Usage Growth Flattening, Says OpenVault

The report is available on the OpenVault website. The company will host a webinar to elaborate on its finding May 20, at noon ET. To attend, register online. 

HOBOKEN, N.J.—The broadband usage curve is beginning to flatten in markets that have been quarantined because of the coronavirus, according to analytics company OpenVault.

Since people began staying at home to try and prevent the spread of coronavirus about three weeks ago, there was consistent double-digit growth in broadband usage. However, for the week of March 30-April 3, the total downstream data usage in quarantine markets declined 5.8% compared to previous weeks. Total upstream usage was still on the rise, but only increased by 2.3% from the prior week.

Since January 2020, daily broadband usage has surged because of coronavirus precautions. The biggest increase has been during typical business hours (9 a.m.-5 p.m.). As of April 3, the average daily downstream consumption during business hours was 6.35 GB, 42.46% higher than January’s 4.46 GB. Daily upstream during business hours increased 82.5% from January to April 3 (0.215 GB to 0.392 GB).

It’s not just during business hours, however, that an increase has occurred. Peak hours  (6 p.m.-midnight) have seen a 21.15% downstream surge since January, and upstream usage has risen 35.95%. Overall, daily usage grew from 12.19 GB in January to 16.22 GB as of April 3.

Areas that have not had to deal with restrictive social distancing policies have seen less growth, according to OpenVault. In those areas, broadband usage has increased 38.2% during business hours and an 8% surge during peak hours.

PLUS: FCC: Networks Usage Surges 35%, Providers Meeting Demands

“It’s too early to say that the industry has weathered the storm of additional usage, but signs point to the greatest surge of growth by far as being behind us,” said Mark Trudeau, CEO and founder of OpenVault. “Operators will need to keep close eyes on any incremental increases—particularly during peak hours and in the upstream—as well as the impact of new quarantines in additional markets, but their networks seem in the meantime to be well-prepared to handle this increased data consumption.”

For more information, visit www.openvault.com.  

HOBOKEN, N.J.—Amid the parties, family meals, visits from Santa and religious celebrations that contribute to the tapestry of holiday traditions in America, it may be time to add a new element: massive broadband usage.

According to the latest estimate from industry analytics firm OpenVault, broadband consumption is expected to grow to as much as 330GB per subscriber—a 19% increase from the Q3 2019 average of 275GB per subscriber.

“The holiday season is prime time for spikes in broadband usage that put increased stress on operators’ infrastructures,” said Mark Trudeau, CEO and founder of OpenVault. “As the ribbons and bows come off countless new devices and they are connected to the internet, they combine with cord-cutting, broadband network upgrades and higher speed packages to drive usage to record levels, ultimately setting the stage for the year ahead.”

Relying on historical trends identified over the past several years, the analytics firm anticipates the mean broadband usage during the Christmas/January holiday season will hit between 315GB and 330GB per subscriber.

To put that usage into perspective, holiday season broadband consumption stood at 38GB in 2012 and climbed to 270GB for the 2018 holiday season, OpenVault said.

Last year, the company also began tracking growth in the U.S. consumer device landscape. It recorded a 5.3% increase in connected devices the week after Christmas as compared to the week before, OpenVault said.

More information is available from the OpenVault website.

HOBOKEN, N.J.—While cutting the cord is often done as an effort to save money off traditional pay-TV services, it also typically leads to a surge to broadband usage, which in turn can open doors for other revenue opportunities for service providers.

This comes from a report by analytics company OpenVault on the third quarter of 2019 for the broadband industry. It’s primary finding was that cord cutters’ average broadband usage has reached 520.8 GB a month, an increase of 7% in Q3. That is almost double compared to the monthly weighted (usage-based billing and flat-rate billing) average subscriber's usage at 275.1 GB.

Among cord cutters, 12% qualify as “power users,” meaning people who consume more than 1 TB or more of data per month. That is nearly triple the weighted average subscribers in Q3 2019, who come in at 4.2%. In the last year, the total number of power users have increased by 62% year over year. OpenVault points to FRB subscribers as the drivers of that, noting that they sign up for 1 TB plans 30% more than UBB subscribers, and 64% more for 2 TB plans.

Even though lessening a bill is often cited as a reason for cutting the cord, OpenVault found that two-thirds of cord cutters maintained the same broadband packages, while 29% upgraded; 4% downgraded.

“A cord cutting event usually signals a need for faster broadband speeds,” the report reads. “Cord cutters are opting for high-bandwidth OTT services, and are using multiple devices in the home to consume video, often simultaneously. This behavior lends itself to higher speed, higher margin broadband packages to ensure an acceptable broadband CX and the cord cutting event is the best time for operators to educate customers an upsell them accordingly.”

Despite not reaching the usage numbers of cord cutters, monthly weighted average usage increased as well in Q3 by 25% (118.2 GB to 147.4 GB), signaling that consumption is increasing across the entire market.

OpenVault’s full report is available for download.

HOBOKEN, N.J.—As cord-cutting continues to impact the pay-TV industry, a recent study during the second quarter of 2019 by OpenVault Broadband Industry has found a clue in figuring out if subscribers are contemplating a switch, and it is all based on their broadband usage.

According to the report, thousands of subscribers that made the move to broadband-only packages during the first half of 2019 steadily increased broadband consumption in the build-up to the switch. The future cord-cutters would use broadband 14% more than average subscribers six months before the change, 20% the month prior and 30% during the month they cut the cord. In the three months following, the difference rose to 70%.

OVBI’s report also highlights the difference of broadband usage of internet-only and pay-TV houses based off an aggregate of millions of subscribers. The average bandwidth consumption of internet-only houses came in at 390.42 GB, while pay-TV homes used an average of 210.89 GB, a difference of 85%.

Currently, the average broadband usage in the U.S. is 271 GB, according to OVBI, a 25% growth year-over-year from Q2 2018. Year-over-year median usage rose nearly 32% to 144.5 GB, which OBVI says indicates increased usage across all levels of consumption.

Additional findings shows that Usage-Based Billing still helps to limit the number of “power users,” subscribers who consume more than 1 TB of data per month, as they were 23% less likely to exceed the mark than Flat Rate Billing customers, and 61% less likely to exceed 2 TB.

“As more and more subscribers exhibit cord-cutting behavior, visibility into usage behavior and sound Usage-Based Billing plans will help operators to manage increasingly buys networks and ensure subscriber satisfaction,” said Josh Barstow, executive vice president of corporate strategy and business development at OVBI.

The full report can be found here.