Jersey City, NJ – A key broadband trend was upended in the first quarter of 2023 as subscribers on usage-based broadband (UBB) plans achieved and slightly exceeded consumption parity with their flat-rate (FRB) plan counterparts for the first time, according to the OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report. The 1Q23 report was issued today by OpenVault, a market-leading source of SaaS-based revenue and network improvement solutions, and broadband industry analytics.

The OVBI report notes that significantly higher rates of usage growth among UBB subscribers resulted in average (562.7 GB) and median (382.0 GB) monthly UBB consumption that was marginally higher than the 555.5 GB average and the 371.1 GB median for consumers on FRB plans. The report leverages data aggregated from OpenVault’s suite of broadband management tools.

“Implications for the broadband industry are mixed,” the report said. “On the one hand, faster speed adoption often results in higher ARPU for operators and increased satisfaction for consumers as they ‘right-size’ to subscription plans that are aligned with their actual usage. On the other hand, operators who have viewed UBB as a tool to reduce strain on the broadband plant will need to explore new solutions for maintaining and improving network health and alleviating network congestion.”

Past OVBI reports have detailed the connection between faster internet speeds and increased data consumption. OpenVault’s analysis shows that in 1Q23 approximately 30% more UBB subscribers (90%) enjoyed speeds of 200 Mbps or faster than did FRB subscribers (63%). During the same period average usage grew at a rate of 12.2% for UBB subscribers, nearly 7x that of FRB consumers, while median usage grew at a rate of 17.3% for UBB subscribers as FRB median usage remained flat.

Other findings in the 1Q23 report include:
While overall monthly average data usage rose 9.1% year over year to 560.5 GB, from 513.8 GB in 1Q22, monthly median data rose 11.9% to 378.6 GB, from 338.4 GB a year ago. The higher median growth rate indicates a broad increase in consumption across operators’ entire subscriber bases.

The percentage of power users consuming 1 TB or more per month in 1Q23 was 17%, a year-over-year increase of 16.2%, while superpower users consuming 2 TB or more per month rose to 3% from 2.4% a year earlier, a 26.9% YoY increase.

The percentage of subscribers on speed tiers of 500 Mbps or faster reached 40% in 1Q23, an increase of 106% over 1Q22.

The entire report is at https://openvault.com/resources/ovbi/. OpenVault also provides continuously updated broadband consumption figures in OpenVault’s Broadband Tracker.

About OpenVault
OpenVault and OpenVault Europe GmbH are market-leading sources of broadband technology solutions and data-driven insights into worldwide broadband consumption patterns. Using the companies’ cloud-based SaaS or on-premises solutions and tools, service providers can optimize network performance, increase revenue, improve subscriber satisfaction, and offer remote care solutions. OpenVault and OpenVault Europe aggregate and analyze the resulting market data to provide unparalleled granular views of consumer usage that can be used to anticipate residential and business broadband trends.

For more information, please visit openvault.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Kristen Nihamin at [email protected] or 917-509-9028
Paul Schneider at [email protected] or 215-817-4384

Source: OpenVault