What drives broadband traffic?

• Published in: Telecommunications policy 2023-10, Vol.47 (9), p.102621, Article 102621
• Main Authors: Kenny, Robert, Kenny, Charles, Gehan, Zack
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Broadband; Demographics; Internet traffic
• ISSN: 0308-5961
• DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2023.102621

Worldwide there is an ongoing policy and regulatory push to make very high speed broadband available as widely as possible. Underlying the policy interventions to support higher speeds is an implicit assumption that higher speeds will enable different (and socially valuable) use. In this paper we empirically test whether higher speed lines are associated with greater household data usage in the UK. We find that after allowing for demographic factors, higher speed in fact has a very limited relationship to traffic. This suggests that mid-speed broadband is not in fact a constraint on household usage (as measured by traffic), and thus the benefits of policy interventions to support higher speeds remain somewhat speculative. •This paper uses extensive data on usage published by the UK telecoms regulator to explore the linkage between broadband speeds and traffic per line.•We find that demographic factors are closely linked to traffic volumes: areas with larger households, younger population, and high percentages of those able to speak English are all associated with higher use, for example.•The link between the average broadband connection speed in an area and traffic volumes is considerably weaker, and weakens further once demographic factors are accounted for.