Regulation Mostly Unneeded to Maintain European Network Capacity for COVID-19

Maintaining European network capacity during the pandemic was largely voluntary, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) told us. Following a European Commission initiative, some larger content providers, such as Facebook, Netflix and YouTube, acted to ensure network capacity without further intervention by national regulatory authorities (NRAs), it said. Weekly traffic monitoring reports from NRAs will become monthly beginning in July because the situation is stable, BEREC Chair Dan Sjoblom said at a Tuesday briefing. The content providers' actions were "more or less" voluntary, BEREC said. "Punctual interventions were done by the operators, such as increasing the capacity of the networks, updating the network configuration and traffic (re)balancing." Sjoblom said traffic increased but operators managed well. Internet backbone, networks and internet exchange point supported the increased traffic, emailed EuroISPA Vice-President Innocenzo Genna: The increase was normally spread throughout the entire day, without specific peaks. Users may have experienced some congestion in the access part of their fixed connections because so many were using connectivity during the quarantine for different purposes, such as learning, working and entertainment, he said. "This problem reminds us [of] the importance for a proper Internet connection and the need to accelerate roll-out of very high capacity networks, as foreseen by the new European [Electronic Communications] Code." A YouGov survey showed a "significant increase in broadband usage in households during the lockdown" as the workforce logged on from home and friends and family kept in touch, said U.K. Internet Services Providers' Association Policy Head Till Sommer: The network "proved to be resilient."