Page 6 - SAMENA Trends - March 2020

COVID-19 VS TELECOM INDUSTRY SAMENA TRENDS
Broadband, COVID-19 and Connecting
the Unconnected
Agnieszka Gladysz
Managing Director, Department of Strategy and
Analysis
Office of Electronic Communications (UKE)
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown both
the importance of broadband connectivity
and the deficiencies of current connectivity.
The existing infrastructure has not been
resilient enough to handle large quantities
of data transfer due to high internet
dependency associated with people's stay
at home (private usage, remote work and
e-learning).
The world's population stands at 7.58 billion. Surprisingly, despite
the increasing reach and scope of today’s telecommunications
industry, 49% of the global population remains unconnected.
This translates into roughly 3.8 billion of the world's inhabitants
without internet access.
COVID-19, Importance & Impact on Broadband Connectivity
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown both the importance
of broadband connectivity and the deficiencies of current
connectivity. The existing infrastructure has not been resilient
enough to handle large quantities of data transfer due to high
internet dependency associated with people's stay at home
(private usage, remote work and e-learning).
With an increasing amount of global lockdowns, people are forced
to remain indoors. As a result, this has increased the demand
for bandwidth usage while people remotely work from home and
spend their free time accessing the internet. According to OOKLA
SpeedTest, the global test volume started to rapidly increase early
March for both fixed and mobile platforms. Despite the 20% yoy
increase in mobile platform volume, the fixed platform volumes
growth has been significant with a global 60% yoy increase.
Furthermore, mounting pressure on internet infrastructure usage
is experienced worldwide. Global streaming giants such as Netflix,
YouTube, Amazon and Apple TV have reduced their streaming
quality in major parts of the world to prevent traffic overload in the
face of the coronavirus pandemic. According to KASPR DataHaus
research, internet latency patterns have been experiencing major
difficulties as a result of travel lockdowns, remote work and
business seizure.
6 MARCH 2020