The internet exchange BNIX reports that internet traffic will increase sharply again in 2023. Traffic volume has increased significantly after declining in 2022 for the first time in a long time.

In 2023, BNIX recorded an average of 270 Gbps of traffic on its platform. The BNIX platform operated by Belnet is a national internet exchange through which a large part of all Belgian internet traffic passes. The 270 Gbit/s represents a 37 percent increase compared to the average data traffic of 2022. However, this was an exceptional year in which internet traffic fell to 198 Gbit/s after years of increases.

If we look at 2021 as a reference year, we see that 2023 is another record year. Compared to two years ago, data traffic has increased by around twenty percent from 224 Gbit/s. says Frédéric Libotte, Senior Relationship Manager at Belnet and responsible for BNIX, mentioning the increase in data traffic over the last year. “The decline last year was actually a normalization after the gigantic increases caused by the Corona measures.” The fact that the year 2023 without Corona measures will still be higher than the year 2021 shows a structural increase in internet traffic.

The well-known trends are driving the increase in traffic. On the one hand, digitalization is increasing, with online meetings and companies increasingly moving to the cloud. On the other hand, people are consuming more and more media privately, and in ever higher resolution.

Peaks during (tele)work

March 8, 2023 was the absolute record day of last year. There was snow this Wednesday, which encouraged telecommuting. Netflix and its partners were also busy, causing traffic to peak at 424 Gbps in the afternoon. At no point throughout the day was there more traffic through the BNIX platform. The highest individual peak (i.e. not a daily average) was on Monday, March 6th, when BNIX had to swallow 462 Gbit/s at some point.

BNIX notes that peaks since Corona have occurred in the morning and afternoon during working hours. This is in contrast to traffic before the pandemic. At that time, recreational use of the Internet was the highest traffic volume, so peaks often occurred in the evening hours.

BNIX is currently working on the rollout of a future-proof platform that will be able to cope with increasing data traffic. According to Belnet, there were some delays in the rollout.