Data demand sees a 10% surge as people step up work from home over Covid-19

Indian telecom service providers have seen a 10 per cent surge in overall traffic as more and more offices switch to ‘work from home’ or people go into self-quarantine in their homes to combat the spread of coronavirus.

The demand for data dongles has also doubled in the last few days and many retailers are asking for a week to replenish their stocks due to the spurt in demand.

Rajan S Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India, said feedback from its telecom members indicated a 10 per cent increase in traffic, but rejected fears of choked networks. “The networks have enough capacity to manage this increase and there is no reason for worry,” he said.