Whanganui has had a steady increase in fibre usage in the second Covid-19 alert level 2 period versus the first alert level 2 a few months ago.
Data from Ultrafast Fibre (UFF) shows fibre use per Whanganui household has gradually increased since re-entering alert level 2 on August 12.
August 27 data shows individual use was up roughly 10 per cent during the peak time of 7pm to 10pm under the latest level 2 versus the alert level 1 and 2 periods in the weeks prior. At midnight on August 27, video game Fortnite released a new season, leading to an increase in download traffic to 446 gigabits per second, a new record for the UFF network.
UFF chief executive John Hanna said Whanganui was one of the highest average usage regions in the country.
This is despite Whanganui having a low customer uptake, with only 53 per cent of Whanganui customers using UFF. Cities such as Hamilton and Tauranga have more than 70 per cent uptake.
"Customer data usage in Whanganui has grown by around 20 per cent in the last year as more and more households connect to fibre and we continue to see people access the benefits of the new work from home dynamic," Hanna said.
"The average customer usage is now 340Gb of data per month. Although we saw a significant increase to 380Gb in March and April under alert level 4 lockdown, the current lift to alert level 2 has seen only marginal increase in usage, which is consistent with our expectations.
"The capacity in our ever-reliable fibre network is more than double what we see being used by Whanganui today, so lots of data for everyone."