The internet has gone up drastically in the past two days as most of the people remained home after the country went into a weeklong lockdown to curb the rise of Covid-19 infections.
The figure comprises of 60% internet used by the internet service providers (ISPs), and the remaining 40% by mobile internet.
The return of remote work and home office led to the surge, as people had to conduct official work, meet through video calls, communicate using digital messaging apps and more, which needed more internet, said ISP and international internet gateway (IIG) service providers.
But this has not affected internet use in the corporate segment, as many officials are working from home now, hence diverting the internet use volume from corporate to residential segment.
The average bandwidth use of ISPs has increased by 10%-15%, they also said.
All the ISPs mostly have unused bandwidth, they can avail amid this rise in internet use and provide uninterrupted internet. But the real picture can be seen soon once that stock runs out, they feared.
If the demand increases, they all have to buy more internet bandwidth, hence internet costs at user end may also increase, operators said.
Last year the use of internet bandwidth was 1400gbps around this period, said the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB.)
It may increase more in the coming days, they also said.
Among the 200gbps, about 50% of the bandwidth is used in Dhaka, they added.
IIG company Earth Telecommunications' managing director Kamal Hossain told Dhaka Tribune that use of internet residentially, both broadband and mobile internet, has increased by 90% as online classes, and video conferences increased.
However, the sudden surge was notable. Although banks and financial institutions are using the internet, it is not significant compared to residential usage, he added.
Source: https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2021/04/06/internet-use-surges-during-lockdown