OpenVault: Extreme Power Users Fueling Steady Upstream Growth

OVBI: Highest users consuming almost 1 TB of upstream per month

JERSEY CITY, N.J., May 15, 2024 A small but growing group of extreme power users is contributing to a steady rise in upstream consumption in broadband cable networks, according to the latest edition of the OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report. The report was issued today by OpenVault, a market-leading source of SaaS-based revenue and network improvement solutions and data-driven insights for the broadband industry.

Extreme power users of 5 TB or more per month consume almost 1 TB – 956 GB, on average – of upstream bandwidth per month, magnifying their impact on the most capacity-constrained part of the cable broadband network. Their usage is the latest factor leading to almost-uninterrupted upstream growth.

"Ensuring optimal downstream quality remains important, but operators will do well to focus significant attention on the upstream plant," OVBI 1Q24

While downstream consumption experienced a 6% decline in 1Q24 vs. the previous quarter, in line with historical seasonal patterns, the OVBI 1Q24 report noted that upstream usage rose slightly during the same period. First quarter usage of 40.4 GB was a small increase over the 40.1 average at the end of 2023, and 13.1% above the 35.7 GB recording in 1Q23.

"Ensuring optimal downstream quality remains important, but operators will do well to focus significant attention on the upstream plant," the report observes. "Increased traffic – especially at the hands of a growing group of extreme power users of 5 TB or more – shows no sign of abating. At current usage rates, each new extreme power user adds almost 1 TB of upstream traffic on a single node."

Other key findings in the 1Q24 report include:

"Increased deployments of DOCSIS 3.1, DOCSIS 3.1+, and DOCSIS 4.0 networks are driving the need for new monitoring and network management solutions," the report concludes. "While these technology advancements provide the speed necessary to meet subscriber demands, they are also amplifying the risks of poor QoE due to network impairments. Profile Management Application (PMA), Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM), and other automated solutions can optimize both network performance and subscriber experiences."

The entire report is at https://openvault.com/resources/ovbi/.

About OpenVault

OpenVault and OpenVault Europe GmbH are market-leading sources of broadband technology solutions and data-driven insights into worldwide broadband consumption patterns. Using the companies' cloud-based SaaS or on-premises solutions and tools, service providers can optimize network performance, increase revenue, and improve subscriber satisfaction. OpenVault and OpenVault Europe aggregate and analyze the resulting market data to provide unparalleled granular views of consumer usage that can be used to anticipate residential and business broadband trends.

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