‘Historic’ shift in broadband usage heralds expansion phase

At the end of 2024, OpenVault predicted ongoing monitoring and network adaptability would be crucial to maintain a high quality of experience amid rising demand. with upstream data usage now growing at more than twice the rate of downstream usage.

In its latest quarterly analysis of broadband consumption for the second quarter of 2025, the company has now said that the current acceleration marks a small yet historic shift in growth rates.

The Q2 2025 OVBI report analysed data from millions of broadband subscribers, aggregated through OpenVault’s data collection solutions, to uncover usage patterns that effect network performance, operator revenue and customer satisfaction. It detailed shifting consumption trends in the quarter, including distinct growth patterns within specific tiers of service, as well as the continued impact of growing upstream usage.

The Q2 2025 edition of the report introduced new network health metrics that quantify how proactive network management (PNM) and profile management application (PMA) technologies can support broadband providers’ technology and business objectives.

The key standout finding for the quarter was that after several years of post-pandemic uncertainty, broadband growth was showing strong signs of a comeback, with average per-subscriber data usage increased for the second consecutive quarter in 2025. Moreover, the year-on-year (YoY) growth rate in Q2 2025 was higher than any seen in a second quarter in the past three years.

Data collected by OpenVault’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) network management and monitoring solutions found a rise in average per-subscriber usage to 664.2 GB. While this represented a small increase of 1.0 GB over the 663.2 GB recorded in the previous quarter, OpenVault said that it also marked a significant metric given historical seasonal declines in average usage from the first quarter to the second.

The increase in average usage over Q2 2024’s 585.8 GB was 13.4%, which is the largest since a 14.0% rate of growth in 2021. OpenVault attributed the increase largely to what it called “vigorous” downstream traffic – up 13% YoY in Q2 to 615.3 GB – as well as by a rise in upstream usage of 17.9%. The upstream growth was the fastest second-quarter metric on record, with the exception of the pandemic-fuelled 55.8% increase in 2020.

Other key findings included the percentage of super power users – those consuming 2 TB of data or more per month – rose to 5% in Q2 2025, up from 3.7% at the end of 2024. Subscribers with speeds of 1Gbps or higher continued to close in on 1TB of data in Q2 2025, and their 955.0 GB average was up 14.4% over the 834.8 GB registered during the same period in 2024.

BY contrast, the relevance of lower speed tiers was seen to be fast eroding. Average monthly usage for those consumers on sub-50Mbps plans was only 117.4 GB, a YoY decline of 55.0%.

PMA technology was seen to be improving network resource optimisation and more efficient DOCSIS 3.1 utilisation. The percentage of total channels reporting more than half of their modems in partial-service mode was 3.4% after the implementation of PMA, compared with 11.6% prior to PMA deployment.

The report noted: “The unprecedented increase in usage from Q1 to Q2, the resurgence of downstream consumption and the continued growth of upstream traffic all signal that broadband is entering a new phase in expansion. In this evolving environment, agility is essential – providers must leverage detailed insights and advanced tools like PMA to build resilient networks capable of supporting rising and increasingly dynamic consumer usage.”