Irish broadband and telecoms provider Pure Telecom said the average volume of data downloaded by its customers more than doubled from February 2020 to February this year.
The average Pure Telecom broadband customer downloaded 555 GB worth of data in February 2021, compared to 257 GB in February 2020.
Research from the company also showed a 345% increase in the share of users who downloaded at least one Terabyte of data per month.
13.05% of its customers downloaded at least a Terabyte in February 2021 compared with just 2.94% in February 2020, it noted.
The research is based on an average monthly sample of 11,665 Irish households who are all Pure Telecom fixed line broadband customers.
It also showed that in almost every month in the 12 months to February 2021, there was a direct correlation of increases and reductions of data download volumes with increases and reductions in Covid-19 restrictions, as well as external global events.
When restrictions tightened, data traffic volumes increased, with people consuming more home entertainment, and more people working and educating themselves from home.
However, Pure Telecom said that November last year was the largest single month in the 12 months to February 2021 for data downloads, with households downloading an average 987 GB.
This was more than double the 479 GB downloaded on average in comparable months when Covid-19 restrictions were tighter.
The November increase coincided with the launch of new video games and gaming platforms, as well as the US election, it noted.
Paul Connell, CEO of Pure Telecom, said that the importance of reliable, high speed broadband has been thrust into sharp focus over the past 12 months as it supports students' educational pursuits, enables seamless working from home, keeps gamers active online, while ensuring people remain connected and entertained.
"Looking at the anomaly that was November 2020, where data downloads more than doubled, we know from research that this was driven by gamers flocking to download games for new Xbox consoles, the new PlayStation 5, as well as huge game releases from the likes of the Call of Duty games franchise," Mr Connell said.
The Pure Telecom CEO also said it was very interesting to see how the easing and tightening of restrictions impacted its users' online activity.
"The increase in home working and changes in entertainment patterns, as well as the stark increase in the number of users downloading more than a Terabyte of data per month, clearly illustrates the need for ultra high speed broadband, and makes the case for high performance fixed line broadband connections," he said.
"Many video games, for example, have more than quadrupled in size in just a couple of years, with some games requiring downloads of more than 200 Gigabytes," he added.
