Data demand surges as people step up work from home

Corona Connection

Indian telecom service providers have seen a 10 per cent surge in overall traffic as more and more offices switch to ‘work from home’ or people go into self-quarantine in their homes to combat the spread of coronavirus.

The demand for data dongles has also doubled in the last few days and many retailers are asking for a week to replenish their stocks due to the spurt in demand.

Rajan S Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India, said feedback from its telecom members indicated a 10 per cent increase in traffic, but rejected fears of choked networks. “The networks have enough capacity to manage this increase and there is no reason for worry,” he said.

Telcos currently use 65-70 per cent of the network capacity. In other words, they have enough additional capacity to handle the new pressure without clogging the system, Mathews said.