Network operators across Europe have 'coped well' with additional traffic load amid coronavirus crisis

No glaring network congestion issues observed so far in Europe, according to the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications

Despite a surge in traffic on fixed and mobile networks, no major internet congestion issues have been observed across Europe since the onset of coronavirus crisis, and lockdowns across the continent.

That's according to the EU's telecoms regulation agency, which said in a press release yesterday that while "some local and temporary difficulties with the internet access" have been reported in some European countries, none of them was "out of the ordinary".

"Network operators have been able to cope well with this additional traffic load," the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) said.

The agency also praised some network operators for taking various customer-friendly measures, such as "increasing the amount of mobile data in the subscriptions for a limited period".

BEREC said that some national regulatory authorities (NRAs) have also noticed a decrease in peak traffic following the traffic reducing measures implemented by some larger access providers.

The statement from BEREC has come after several internet experts expressed concerns that internet infrastructure in Europe might not be able to cope with the huge surge in internet traffic expected as a result of 'social distancing' and lockdown measures imposed in countries across Europe in a bid to fight the spread of Coronavirus.

The pandemic, which started from Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 750,000 people worldwide, with nearly 37,000 fatalities resulting from the disease.

Governments in most countries are urging people to stay at their home to protect themselves from the disease. But, this has also resulted in increased stain on networks. People are now working from home, doing video calls, watching movies, playing video games, and doing lots of other online activities that have been consuming bandwidth quickly.

In the UK, most internet service providers have been reporting double-digit increase in broadband usage. BT recently said that traffic on its fixed network has soared 60 per cent compared to normal weekdays. Vodafone also reported 50 per cent spike in its mobile data traffic in some regions.

This surge in traffic has also forced BEREC to formally urge CAPs (internet content and service providers) to reduce streaming quality for European users to help prevent any potential network congestion in the region.

YouTube and Netflix were the first to answer BEREC's call last week. Both companies are now providing only standard definition (SD) streams to users in Europe.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple and Disney+ have also capped their video streaming quality for users based in Europe reduce the load on broadband network.

Facebook and Instagram also announced to "temporarily reduce" video quality in Europe to help their partners handle Internet "bandwidth constraints".