Last month, NBN Co announced that it would extend ISPs additional capacity for another two months, thus giving them 40% more CVC (Connectivity Virtual Circuit) access than they used in February 2020 at no extra charge.
This deal, which was initially struck in March, was aimed at helping ISPs cope with an anticipated spike in demand as Australians in home lockdown access videoconferencing apps, streaming services like Netflix, as well as online gaming.
It appears this was a prescient move, with NBN Co reporting an unprecedented increase in broadband use:
For the week from Monday, 27 April to Sunday, 3 May, peak download throughput (the measure of data flowing through the nbn™ access network) during the busy evening period increased by 26 per cent to 13.9 terabits per second (Tbps) on the main nbn wholesale service, compared to the last week of February (which nbn measures as its normal pre-COVID-19 baseline)…
For the week from Monday, 27 April, peak download throughout compared to the pre-COVID-19 baseline also increased during daytime business hours, up 32 per cent to 10.3Tbps, and during early evening hours, up 31 per cent to 12.9Tbps, on the main nbn wholesale service.
Compared to the pre-COVID-19 baseline, peak upload throughput on the main nbn wholesale service in the evening busy hours for the week beginning 27 April increased by 36 per cent to 1.05Tbps; peak upload throughput in the early evening hours increased 53 per cent to 1.04Tbps; and peak throughput during daytime business hours increased by 106 per cent to 1.03Tbps.
Compared to the pre-COVID-19 baseline before social distancing measures were implemented, downstream network usage on the nbn main wholesale service during business hours on 1 May 2020 was 67 per cent higher (as shown in the graph below at 11am) than the pre-COVID-19 baseline.
Upstream network usage on the nbn main wholesale service during business hours on 1 May 2020 was 129 per cent higher (as shown in the graph below at 11am) than the pre-COVID-19 baseline.
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It may be slow, but at least the NBN is holding up with respect to volumes.
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
