More national regulatory authorities (NRAs) report stabilization and even a decrease in internet traffic from the peak that was reached after the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis. In light of the traffic situation starting to stabilize, BEREC will reduce the frequency of these reports to once per week and will at the same time look at broadening the scope to also include other relevant measures being taken. Internet traffic in Europe

The updated BEREC summary report on internet capacity during the COVID-19 crisis includes the most recent data provided to BEREC by its constituent NRAs as of 28 April 2020.

In general, traffic on fixed and mobile networks has increased during the Covid-19 crisis, but no major congestion issues have occurred. For more than five weeks, a growing number of NRAs (AL, AT, BE, CY, DE, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PL, and SK) have been reporting a stabilization in overall traffic. In particular, one NRA (LT) has explicitly confirmed that internet traffic remains stable with good quality of service. A stable situation has also been explicitly confirmed by another two NRAs (MT and SI).
However, one NRA (BG) has explicitly reported a slight increase in fixed and mobile data compared to the previous week due to Easter (17-20 April 2020). Although another NRA (IT) has confirmed a stabilization of fixed data traffic, it has observed a slight decrease in mobile data traffic during the period 13–19 April 2020 compared to the week 7-12 April 2020.
For more than one week, more and more NRAs (AT, BG, EL, PL, RO, SI) have been detecting a decrease in overall internet traffic from the peak that was reached after the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. This trend suggests that there are three phases in the evolution of traffic during the crisis: sharp increase, stabilization, and a decrease from the peak. Consequently, overall internet traffic is beginning to revert to average levels more typical of the period before the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Internet traffic in Europe
Over the last fortnight, six NRAs (AT, DK, NL, PL, RO, SI) have explicitly reported an increase of traffic in the IXPs (Internet Exchange Points) since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. Last week, one NRA (NL) reported a stabilisation of traffic in the national IXP, whereas another NRA (PT) has now reported a slight decrease in interconnection traffic.

It also gives information on actions taken by regulators and operators. For example, the Portuguese NRA informs about a significant increase in the tests performed by end-users to check the speed of their internet access. Further, the Lithuanian regulatory authority reports that one mobile operator provided information about a temporary breach of network integrity in its network due to a server failure.

This is already the 10^th BEREC summary report submitted to the European Commission. The next status update is due next week on May 8, 2020.

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