NCTA: Downstream Peak Broadband Traffic Growth Is Flattening

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Marking week three of its COVID-19 Internet Dashboard, NCTA-The Internet & Television Association said broadband traffic is steady as she goes. 

It said that the "national downstream peak growth" for the week of April 4-11 was essentially flat (up just 0.65%) and that peak growth continues to "decelerate" for the second week in a row, up only .71% versus increases of 4% and 7% the previous two weeks.  

Related: Pai Says ISPs Holding Up Very Well

NCTA said the fact that the networks are handling the added COVID-related load didn't just happen, but was instead the result of micro-monitoring by network engineers, added hardware and extended fiber (a "network augmentation" effort up 300% in some cases versus a typical week), and a workforce of over a quarter of a million technicians on the front lines.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.