How Covid-19 is impacting CSP’s networks in Spain?

“The five major telecommunications operators (Telefónica, Orange, Vodafone, MásMóvil and Euskaltel) operating in Spain have jointly asked users to prioritize the use of telephones for essential activities such as remote work and distance education, given the strong increase in traffic and the fear that networks may experience episodes of saturation in the coming days.

The joint note notes that "telecommunications networks, both fixed and mobile, have been experiencing a traffic explosion in recent days as a result of the expansion of Covid-19 and the measures and recommendations derived from it."

According to the telcos, in general terms, traffic through IP networks has experienced increases of close to 40%, while mobile use has increased by around 50% in voice and 25% in data. Likewise, the traffic of instant messaging tools such as Whatsapp has multiplied by 5 in recent days.

The increased use of teleworking has also been reflected in the network: the traffic of remote work tools such as Skype and Webex has multiplied by 4.

The network operators - Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, Grupo Masmovil and Grupo Euskaltel - have critical teams that ensure the network works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and are taking measures to strengthen their networks similar to those They implement, for example, in coastal areas in summer.

These are measures of geographic redundancy for the centers from which the services are managed, diversification of technical means, or operational plans for diversion of activity to provide the services from other locations or remotely.

Everything possible is also being done to increase the capacity of the networks by putting more equipment into service and increasing the capacity of the existing ones, but these measures are not immediately effective, therefore, to guarantee the quality of service and connectivity excellent that is necessary, all these improvements must go hand in hand, especially now, in the new situation of isolation throughout the country, with intelligent and responsible use of the network and the resources it provides us.

For this reason and together, the operators ask customers to follow some recommendations:

• Download only the documents or files that are really needed, and if they can wait, do it at night or in the "off-peak hours" with less traffic (between two and four in the afternoon and between eight in the afternoon and eight in the morning).

• Whenever possible, do not send heavy files -videos, ppts ...-. As an alternative, send links or routes to where they are stored. And, if it is essential to send them, compress them beforehand or give them a format that weighs less (from ppt to pdf, for example).

• Use collaboration tools like Teams or Slack, and if you can't, try not to always use video services.

• Avoid mass emails.

• Use the landline instead of the mobile to make calls when possible.

• And, above all, optimize traffic for what is really needed: mail, remote work, conferences, school and education applications, access to information. Leisure tools, video games, streaming, live video playback, better to reserve them for the hours of less traffic.

The operators add that "Spain is the first European country and the third in the world in terms of fiber optic infrastructures and it also has one of the best mobile networks in Europe. It is precisely that network, built by operators with effort and millionaire investments, which is allowing the optimal functioning of digital communications, thus making isolation more bearable in the professional and also in the personal.

Rational and responsible use of the networks will allow us all, service providers, companies and individuals, to ensure that we will have quality communication in a sustainable way over time, in a scenario of intensification of work and remote schooling that can go on for several weeks. "

Source : Spanish business newspaper “Expansión”  https://bit.ly/33rZOjf