Coronavirus Lockdown: Data usage increased by 20% as people stayed in their homes, video streaming apps were most used

To prevent the infection of coronavirus epidemic, the central government has imposed a 21-day lockdown across the country from 25 March. Because of this people are forced to stay in their homes. During the lockdown, people are working from home through internet. Also, students are studying online. Those who are not doing any work are spending their time through video streaming and gaming apps at home. This has led to a 20 percent increase in data consumption in the last three weeks. This information was given by Internet exchange firm DE-CIX.

Video streaming apps are most used
The company has said that the usage of tools such as Zoom, Skype, Webex, Microsoft Teams, which connect multiple people at the same time has increased up to double. At the same time, the usage of video streaming apps like Netflix, G5, Amazon Prime etc. and gaming apps has increased 120 times. DE-CIX international CEO Evo Ivanov says that we are seeing an average 20% increase in data consumption in India in the last three weeks. Tools, video streaming and gaming apps that connect multiple people together are using about 80 percent of the total data.

Digital infrastructure will be important in handling the economy in future
He said that as data consumption is increasing without complaints of work getting affected, it seems that digital infrastructure will play an important role in handling the economy in future. He said that the way first time users and others are using the tools to connect multiple people at once, it seems that this situation will persist even after the coronavirus problem is over.

Most used data on 18 March
The company recorded the highest data consumption of 2.45 terabytes per second on March 18. This means that 26.4 million GB of data was used on this day. According to the company, on a normal day, 81 GB per second means 70 million GB per day of data is used. Ivanov said there is no burden on the company’s network. However, telecom operators and internet service providers need to expand their reach. All the concerned stakeholders should keep the digital infrastructure in their top priority.