With home working and video conferencing on the rise due to people around the world taking self-isolation measures, EU industry chief Thierry Breton has expressed concern that video streaming could disrupt more essential activities.

With more people at home, the use of such services is also spiking, with Nielson predicting a 60 per cent rise in internet traffic from the sites over the coming days.

Last year video streaming represented over 60 per cent of global internet traffic, with Netflix alone accounting for 12.6 per cent of total downstream volume of traffic across the entire internet.

The European Commission said abnormal traffic distribution risks straining the internet infrastructure at a time when it was needed for healthcare services, online teaching and other uses.

“Streaming platforms, telecom operators and users, we all have a joint responsibility to take steps to ensure the smooth functioning of the internet during the battle against the virus propagation,” Breton said.

He said streaming platforms should take measures to reduce their burden on infrastructure such as lowering the quality of videos to standard definition during peak times. According to Netflix, HD content at 720p resolution uses around 3GB of data an hour. For standard definition this figure is just 0.7GB an hour.

Breton said streaming platforms should cooperate with telecom providers and they in turn should take measures to lessen network congestion.

He also said users should use Wi-Fi where possible to reduce traffic on mobile networks, which have lower overall capacity.

Vodafone has said data demand has risen by 50 per cent in some markets as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Some European telecoms providers have also reported connectivity problems and a surge in data traffic in recent days. This in part has been driven by companies giving free data, downloads and films to clients to show their support during the coronavirus crisis.

Mike Osborne, non-executive chairman at business continuity firm Databarracks said: “When the schools close, we will have a new mix of massive home working combined with the country’s population of schoolchildren gaming and streaming content at the same time.”

“This is going to put unprecedented demand on broadband and mobile networks. There have already been question marks raised about how providers will cope. Nearly all personal and home communication networks work on a contended basis and we all share the available capacity.”

“The challenge is that now we are really relying on these networks. Organisations are already in trying circumstances doing their best to maintain operations with staff working from home. All the work that has been done securing access, providing devices and collaboration apps is immaterial if staff can’t connect,” he continued. “The key will be to remain flexible and look for alternatives wherever possible to reduce the strain.”

With home working and video conferencing on the rise due to people around the world taking self-isolation measures, EU industry chief Thierry Breton has expressed concern that video streaming could disrupt more essential activities.

With more people at home, the use of such services is also spiking, with Nielson predicting a 60 per cent rise in internet traffic from the sites over the coming days.

Last year video streaming represented over 60 per cent of global internet traffic, with Netflix alone accounting for 12.6 per cent of total downstream volume of traffic across the entire internet.

The European Commission said abnormal traffic distribution risks straining the internet infrastructure at a time when it was needed for healthcare services, online teaching and other uses.

“Streaming platforms, telecom operators and users, we all have a joint responsibility to take steps to ensure the smooth functioning of the internet during the battle against the virus propagation,” Breton said.

He said streaming platforms should take measures to reduce their burden on infrastructure such as lowering the quality of videos to standard definition during peak times. According to Netflix, HD content at 720p resolution uses around 3GB of data an hour. For standard definition this figure is just 0.7GB an hour.

Breton said streaming platforms should cooperate with telecom providers and they in turn should take measures to lessen network congestion.

He also said users should use Wi-Fi where possible to reduce traffic on mobile networks, which have lower overall capacity.

Vodafone has said data demand has risen by 50 per cent in some markets as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Some European telecoms providers have also reported connectivity problems and a surge in data traffic in recent days. This in part has been driven by companies giving free data, downloads and films to clients to show their support during the coronavirus crisis.

Mike Osborne, non-executive chairman at business continuity firm Databarracks said: “When the schools close, we will have a new mix of massive home working combined with the country’s population of schoolchildren gaming and streaming content at the same time.”

“This is going to put unprecedented demand on broadband and mobile networks. There have already been question marks raised about how providers will cope. Nearly all personal and home communication networks work on a contended basis and we all share the available capacity.”

“The challenge is that now we are really relying on these networks. Organisations are already in trying circumstances doing their best to maintain operations with staff working from home. All the work that has been done securing access, providing devices and collaboration apps is immaterial if staff can’t connect,” he continued. “The key will be to remain flexible and look for alternatives wherever possible to reduce the strain.”