EU Commissioner Worries about Netflix Impact on Traffic

It is not yet clear whether people staying home from work and school will break the internet, in the sense of causing meaningful congestion, slower speeds and higher application latency. That does not yet seem to be an issue, but at least some voice in Europe believe European Community networks might not be as resilient as networks elsewhere. 

European Union Commissioner Thiery Breton, for example, is urging people to switch to standard definition quality when streaming Netflix. That noted, Cloudflare reports no negative impact on experience, though usage is up in most markets. 

Networks in Spain, though, report large increases in traffic of between 40 percent to 50 percent. 

That noted, higher-speed consumer connections (above 100 Mbps) are most prevalent in North America, compared to Europe, Africa and Latin America. Asia speeds are not too far from North America levels. 

Region	Greater Than 100 Mbps
	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Global	11%	20%	24%	29%	34%	39%
Asia Pacific	14%	20%	26%	33%	42%	53%
Latin America	1%	1%	1%	1%	2%	2%
North America	16%	23%	31%	37%	40%	46%
Western Europe	10%	13%	15%	17%	19%	22%
Central and Eastern Europe	3%	3%	4%	4%	5%	6%
Middle East and Africa	0%	1%	1%	1%	1%	2%

source: Cisco

That might be the source of concern expressed by Commissioner Breton. European networks might be challenged and less resilient in the face of unexpected demand shifts.