OVBI: Subscriber Speed Increases Driving Higher Median Broadband Usage
OpenVault: 22% of subscribers would benefit from speed tier
upgrade
The migration to faster
speed tiers is driving higher levels of broadband usage across all subscribers,
according to the 2Q 2021 OVBI (OpenVault Broadband Insights) 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.
In 2Q21, two key metrics – the percentage of
subscribers provisioned for gigabit speeds and those provisioned for speeds of
100 Mbps or less – moved sharply in opposite directions. The 10.5% of
subscribers provisioned for 1 Gbps or higher was more than double the 4.8%
figure only a year earlier, while the percentage of subscribers provisioned for
speeds of 100 Mbps or less fell by half, from 39.9% in 2Q20 to 20.1% through
the same period.
At the same time, year-over-year growth of
median usage across both usage-based billing (UBB) and flat-rate billing (FRB)
subscribers jumped 22.7%, from 223.3 GB in 2Q20 to 274.0 GB in the second
quarter of this year. The rate of increase was more than 64% greater than the
growth in average usage during the same period, indicating that increased
consumption is occurring across the subscriber base as a whole, rather than
being concentrated among a few customers.
OpenVault analysis suggests that almost 22% of
subscribers would be well-served by upgrading their speeds.
Among other findings from OpenVault’s analysis
of 2Q21 data patterns:
- Monthly weighted average usage – including both
usage-based billing (UBB) and flat-rate billing (FRB) subscribers – was
433.5 GB, maintaining the trend of 14+% year-over-year growth evident in
1Q21, while exhibiting a quarter-to-quarter decline of 6% that is
consistent with historic patterns.
- The percentage of subscribers using 500 GB or more
increased 2.7%, from 28.2% in 2Q20 to 31.9% in 2Q21. Usage at the bottom
end of the scale – 0-100 GB – fell 4.7 %, from 34.2% to 29.5%.
- With 10.5% of subscribers provisioned for 1Gbps service
and 10.8% consuming 1 terabyte or more of data, 2Q21 marked the first time
that both metrics simultaneously topped 10%.
- While power users (>1 TB of usage/month) and extreme
powers users (>2 TB/month) grew nearly 24% and 50%, respectively, from
2Q20 to 2Q21, the increase was moderated in systems that employ UBB plans.
Extreme power users grew at a rate that was 31% less in UBB systems in
2Q21, and FRB systems had more than 20% more extreme power users on their
networks by the end of the quarter.
“With both median usage
growth exceeding average usage growth and upstream usage growth exceeding
downstream usage growth, the impact on the network is far reaching and not
driven by just a few subscribers or just by applications like streaming alone,”
the report states. “Network operators will continue to be challenged to manage
their networks as they strive to balance higher usage with better customer
experiences.”
Source: OpenVault Solutions media announcement
