Early last year, Ookla® joined the World Bank’s Development Data Partnership platform as part of our Ookla for Good initiative. Working with such talented, data-driven people focused on the public good is exciting and we have been thrilled to see proposed ideas quickly develop into full research projects. Niccolò Comini, a Consultant in the Chief Economist’s Office of the Infrastructure Vice Presidency at the World Bank, recently published one such project, “The Effect of COVID-19 Lockdown Measures on Internet Speed: An Empirical Analysis of 18 Countries in Africa.”
Taking into consideration the digital divide challenges faced by so many, the report highlights the importance of reliable internet access for all — not only during COVID-19, but also moving forward in a world increasingly reliant on internet connectivity for learning and economic success. The supporting research leveraged fixed and mobile broadband data from Speedtest Intelligence® for a period of 12 weeks, across the peak of the pandemic and implementation of “shelter in place” policies.
Key findings
- Increase in internet usage – The COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown measures have increased the amount of internet traffic around the world. Countries in Africa reflect this global trend, reporting higher data traffic during the months in which “stay at home” orders were established. However, this increase in traffic was not temporary; countries continue to reflect a surge in traffic compared to the pre-lockdown weeks.
- Public and private sector reaction – As a consequence of higher internet usage, public and private stakeholders have promoted a wide range of measures to facilitate access to the internet. For instance, some regulators have enabled temporary spectrum bands to meet the increase in demand while private operators have offered more affordable data plans.
- Internet speed is slow – On average, the data recorded by Ookla Speedtest® reported low mobile and fixed internet speeds across the 18 African countries surveyed. Speed was below 10 Mbps, considered the lower bound for a good quality broadband service, even before the onset of the pandemic. In contrast to what might be expected in OECD countries, mobile internet generally provides faster service than fixed.
- Effect of the lockdown on internet speed was modest and temporary – Findings from the sample of 18 African countries indicate a negative effect of the lockdown on mobile (-17%) and fixed internet speeds (-5%), particularly in the first week of lockdown. Some countries also experienced a decline before the stay at home orders, suggesting that some activities shifted to remote connectivity before the official lockdown mandates. However, networks across the continent reacted well.
- Public and private sector partnerships and cooperation was and remains critical for ensuring network resilience – The findings of this study demonstrate the resiliency of digital infrastructure in Africa and also highlight and reflect the benefits of partnership between public and private stakeholders to manage traffic surges. The development community should encourage and leverage these partnerships to achieve the ambitious objective of universal access to the internet.
Read the full World Bank report.
We are glad to work with organizations like the World Bank to provide data that can help improve the state of internet performance around the world. Learn more about Ookla for Good.
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