US broadband consumption on course for 700GB a month by year-end

Broadband consumption in the US is on track to reach 700GB per month by the end of this year and as much as a Terabyte within the next five years, according to the latest edition of technology provider OpenVault’s Broadband Insights (OVBI) report.

Average monthly broadband usage rose above 600GB for the first time in 2023, ending the year at 641GB per month and extending a multi-year trend of 9% annual increases in consumption, according to OpenVault, whose report predicts that growth at the same pace would push the average per subscriber amount of data consumed past the 1TB per month mark by the end of 2028.

The 4Q23 report highlights that the percentages of ‘power users’ of 1TB or more and of ‘super-power users’ of 2 TB or more have increased 437% and 1,235%, respectively, since 2018, while a newly identified category of extreme power users of 5TB or more has risen by 71% in the last year. Some 40% of all users provisioned for gigabit speeds are categorized as ‘power users’.

The OVBI also says that commercial customers are contributing to significant growth in upstream traffic, which has risen by 158.48% since 2018.

“The combined impact of these growth factors is amplifying the need for increased operator focus on network performance and Quality of Experience (QoE), especially as operators deploy DOCSIS 3.1 and DOCSIS 4.0 technologies,” the report says. “Studies show that slow or inconsistent internet speed and repeated connection issues erode customer satisfaction and loyalty more than any other factor.”