Households set internet consumption record in April

Friday, 8 May 2020, 1:46 pm
Article: RNZ

Households set a new internet consumption record in April, each using almost 500 gigabytes of data.

The 700,000 fibre-connected households used an average of 495GB, the equivalent of 12 hours of video conference calls a day, while copper-connected houses used 406GB. Traffic for both was up around 30 percent on February's use.

Chorus said April was easily the busiest ever month for internet traffic in the country, surpassing March - as the country went into lockdown - which had an average fibre use of 429GB.

"Now more than ever, having a robust broadband connection has proven critical as we've all had to adapt to working and learning from home," Chorus chief executive JB Rousselot said in a statement.

The average speed also increased to more than 150 Mbps as more people connected to high-speed fibre plans, he said.

"High bandwidth apps, such as Zoom, have become so important not just for business meetings but for people to stay in contact with friends and family.

"Fibre is perfect for making use of these tools with its low latency and high download and upload speeds," Rousselot said.

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