Thousands of people staying home due to the COVID-19 safety measures are surfing the internet on some form of a smart device more than ever.

With demand for data higher than last year’s COVID scare, internet providers are trying to ensure reliable supply across the country – especially for those who are working or studying from home.

Telecom Fiji Limited Chief Executive, Charles Goundar says the bulk of data consumption is for video streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, as well as social media platforms.

“From 18th April, overall traffic on our network has increased progressively. As of early this week, data consumption has almost doubled since lockdown, this is due to the fact that obviously more people are staying at home.”

Goundar adds Telecom Fiji has also noted a spike in online video conferencing tools such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

Vodafone Fiji had earlier highlighted that it has around 800,000 subscribers with 80% on smartphones actively using the internet.

Digicel Fiji Chief Executive, Farid Mohammed in a statement to FBC News says more companies having to adopt work from home measures has seen an increase in data traffic.

Mohammed says since the last lockdown in 2020, data traffic has increased by more than 100%.