With more Malaysians staying at home during the movement control order (MCO), telcos are experiencing a surge in data consumption as consumers rely on the internet more than ever. Maxis has assured that they are continuing its efforts to ensure that the connectivity lifeline remains uninterrupted as much as possible. In addition, they are also providing even more support for all employers, consumers and businesses throughout the MCO.
According to the green telco, data consumption is currently at unprecedented rates with home fibre traffic and daily mobile data volume has increased significantly since the start of the MCO on 18th March. Apart from data, there’s also an increased in voice call traffic on the first day of the MCO but it has since normalised to pre-MCO levels.
Maxis CTO Morten Bangsgaard said its network technicians are working around the clock to monitor the internet traffic and to keep their fixed and mobile networks running healthily. The telco is making investments to strengthen its network performance and to increase capacity from their fibre partners and international internet gateways. Maxis is confident that its network BCP architecture is well-positioned to help navigate the challenging demands.
Maxis shared that internet browsing, video streaming, instant messaging and collaboration tools account for a bulk of the increase in data traffic. While mobile devices are mostly used for browsing activities, there’s an increase in data volume for streaming apps for home internet. They added that YouTube usage have increased by a few thousand TeraBytes while instant messaging and VoIP services have seen an increase of approximately 50% in data volume.
There’s also a significant increase in usage of collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, Skype and Google Hangouts which are heavily driven by users that work and study from home. Internally, Maxis conducts an average of 1,500 Teams meetings on a daily basis.
Maxis admits that some customers may not have an optimum internet experience on some occasional evenings. To mitigate the issue, they are increasing its sites upgrade production by 100% and they are also expediting capacity rollout in meeting the growing demands. According to Morten, they have 800 of their own people in the field serving customers in stores and field technicians keeping the network up and running. Maxis also encourages all members of the public to stay at home and stay connected during the MCO.
During the MCO, Maxis has introduced several initiatives including free 1GB data daily for its mobile users. Selected Maxis fibre broadband customers were given an optional free fibre speed upgrade up to 300Mbps for 1 to 2 months in the form of a bill rebate. Meanwhile, for new Maxis fibre signups, the telco is offering free unlimited 4G WiFi usage which allows customers to get connected immediately before the fibre connection is installed at their premises.
