Friday, March 20, 2020

Pandemic impact on networks

The global technology sector tests alternatives to avoid the perfect storm

The European Commission asked Netflix to restrict HD streaming, and the platform agreed to do so in the region for the next 30 days, thereby reducing Netflix's traffic by 25%. It is the strongest signal in recent days after the intensification of teleworking in quarantined countries. In Latin America, IP traffic increased between 25% and 40% in the last week.

Verizon from the United States recorded a 20% increase in web traffic, 12% in video traffic, 75% in gaming and 34% in VPN use in the last seven days. Operator CTO Kyle Malady spoke of an unprecedented situation: "Although it is unclear how the millions of people working at home will impact usage patterns, we are ready to make changes, if necessary." Telecom Italia speaks of an increase of more than 70% in Internet traffic since the beginning of March, largely due to online video games. From the other side of the globe, Thai mobile operator dtac reported double and even triple increases in video conference traffic between January 1 and March 19: Zoom had a growth of 828% and Skype of 215%.

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