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Law360 (April 2, 2020, 6:59 PM EDT) -- U.S. carriers are keeping pace with the 10% to 35% traffic increases on internet networks as Americans work, learn and are entertained exclusively at home during the coronavirus pandemic, Federal Communications Commission chief Ajit Pai said Thursday.
Pai's statement, which estimated that "network usage had risen about 20-35% for fixed networks and 10-20% for cellular networks in recent weeks," echoes earlier reassurances about the resilience of web infrastructure proffered by President Donald Trump.
"It appears that our nation's communications networks are holding up very well amid the increase in traffic and change in usage patterns," Pai said. "That's thanks in part to networks being designed to handle ever-higher peak traffic loads and in part to a market-based regulatory framework that has promoted infrastructure investment and deployment. That said, we will continue to closely monitor the situation."
U.S. networks are generally designed to handle heavy amounts of traffic during prime usage times, Pai's office said. Internet traffic that would usually be routed through workplaces and commercial networks has now shifted to at-home networks, resulting in "increased demand in suburban, exurban and residential areas and during daytime hours," according to the FCC.
Pai attributed his assessment to Wednesday phone calls with mobile and fixed internet providers as well as trade associations, including CenturyLink, Charter, T-Mobile and CTIA. He said the results are "consistent" with what providers told him and Trump during a phone call Tuesday.
During his Tuesday coronavirus briefing, Trump said he spoke with executives for 11 internet providers, including Verizon, AT&T and CenturyLink. "With business at a level that nobody's seen it before on the internet, it's holding up incredibly well," he said. "They expect that to continue no matter what happens and no matter how much more it gains."
In response to interest in shifting internet usage patterns, several trade organizations launched their own COVID-19 traffic trackers. According to cable group NCTA's assessment, "both upstream and downstream peak usage is up, but networks continue to perform well." As of Thursday, the group found that less than 1% of cable networks experienced so much traffic that users would face minor slowdowns.
Although providers are publishing their own network studies, Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel suggested this week that the FCC collect and report the results directly on a daily basis.
--Editing by Stephen Berg.
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