Australian Broadband Data Demand: demand remains high as NBN Co launches virtual community engagement program

• Australian Broadband Data Demand report highlights on the main nbn wholesale service:
  • Weekly download throughput peak of 14.5 Terabits per second (Tbps) recorded on Tuesday, 19 May during the Evening Busy Hours
  • Weekly upload throughput peak of 1.02 Tbps recorded on Tuesday, 19 May during the Evening Busy Hours

Data demand on nbn’s main wholesale access service continues to sit at elevated levels compared to the pre-COVID-19 baseline, according to figures from the latest Australian Broadband Data Demand report.

For the week from Monday, 18 May to Sunday, 24 May, peak download throughput (the measure of data flowing through the nbn™ access network) during the busy evening period increased by 32 per cent compared to the last week of February (which nbn measures as its normal pre-COVID-19 baseline) to record a new record high of 14.5 terabits per second (Tbps) on the main wholesale service on Tuesday 19 May. The new record high coincided with the release of a software update for a popular multi-player online game.

Peak download throughput during the week beginning Monday, 18 May also increased compared to the pre-COVID-19 baseline during daytime business hours, up 20 per cent to 9.4Tbps, and during early evening hours, up 37 per cent to 13.5Tbps, on the nbn main wholesale service.

Downstream network usage

Australian Broadband Data Demand is a weekly report into the peak throughput recorded in a week during daytime business hours, early evening hours and busy evening hours.

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 18 May increased by 36 per cent to 1.02Tbps; peak upload throughput in the early evening hours increased 42 per cent to 0.96Tbps; and peak throughput during daytime business hours increased by 82 per cent to 0.91Tbps.

Upstream network usage

Downstream network usage over 24 hours

Upstream network usage over 24 hours

The Australian Broadband Data Demand report is updated weekly on nbn’s Transparency dashboard at: www.nbn.com.au/updates

For tips on how to make the most of your nbn connection and to learn more on what NBN Co is doing to support Australia through COVID-19, please visit: www.nbnco.com.au/campaigns/covid-19

Notes to editor:

- These metrics represent the upstream/downstream throughput peak each week, across the following three distinct periods:

o    Business hours - Monday to Friday 8am to 4:59pm

o    Early evening hours - Monday to Sunday 5pm to 7:59pm

o    Evening busy hours - Monday to Sunday 8pm to 11:59pm

- For Business Hours, the peak is determined by taking the highest downstream throughput for our TC-4 service from the busiest 15-minute increment for downstream throughput, and from the busiest 30-minute increment for upstream, between Monday to Friday. The Early Evening Hours and Busy Evening Hours figures are recorded using the same methodology, but over a seven day period.

- TC-4 is nbn’s standard wholesale broadband service that is designed primarily for general internet and standard data services across all access technologies.

- NBN Co considers the throughput peak metric for our TC-4 service as the most appropriate measure for growth in data flowing through the network as it shows when network use is at its highest in each defined period in a week for our wholesale access service most used for residential broadband services.

- This graph shows TC-4 usage (measured in terabits per second for both upstream and downstream) over a 24 hour period (using Australian Eastern Standard/Daylight time on the dates shown in the key). It compares the results from those two dates against a corresponding 24 hour period from nbn’s pre-COVID-19 baseline on 28 February 2020 (the last week of February). Each marker on the x axis represents an hour period in the day. The y axis shows, for each of the 60 minute periods in that 24 hour period:

o    The downstream throughput measure calculated by recording the highest downstream throughput for our TC-4 service from the busiest 15 minute increment in that 60 minute period.

o    The upstream throughput measure calculated by recording the highest upstream throughput for our TC-4 service from the busiest 30 minute increment in that 60 minute period.

- The terabits per second (Tbps) value is rounded to one decimal place. The percentage increase is rounded to the nearest whole number.