OVBI: Upstream Growth Nears 20% YoY; Tops Downstream Increase by >3X

OpenVault: Download:Upload ratio falls 32.5% since 2019

MIAMI, July 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Continuing a three-year trend of record-breaking percentage growth, broadband upstream usage increased almost 20% year-over-year in 2Q 2026, according to the latest edition of the OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report.

In the latest edition of the quarterly report, entitled “Upstream Ascending,” OpenVault research shows that upstream consumption grew at a rate of 19.2% in 2Q, following increases of 17.9% in 2024-25 and 15.9% in 2023-24. Average upstream usage rose 9.3 GB per subscriber, the largest 2Q-to-2Q increase ever, to 58.2 GB per subscriber per month.

The 19.2% annual increase in 2Q was more than 3X the 6.1% rate of downstream growth, powering the upstream’s rise to 8.2% of broadband providers’ total traffic mix. Over the past seven years the ratio of downstream to upstream consumption has fallen 32.5%, from 16.6:1 in 2Q 2019 to 11.2:1 in the quarter ended June 30. As always, the 2Q26 OVBI uses data collected by OpenVault’s network-agnostic broadband optimization solutions.

“Cloud sync, always-on connected devices, and a new layer of AI-assisted workflows treat the upload channel as a first class path,” the report notes. “This growth will increase as operators prioritize upstream headroom to accommodate increasing traffic. Return path capacity, long treated as secondary, must be freed from performance constraints.”

Among the 2Q26 OVBI findings:

Average Monthly Usage was 711.0 GB per subscriber, an increase of 7.1% over the 664.2 GB recorded in the second quarter of 2025.
Median Monthly Usage of 482.3 GB represented an 11.8% increase over the 431.4 GB of 2Q25, indicating a broadening of consumption across the subscriber base.
Super Power Users of 2 TB per month or more rose to almost 6% (5.86%) of all subscribers, a 16.1% year-over-year increase.
DOCSIS Upstream Speed continues to zoom toward new milestones. Average upstream speed in 2Q26 was 47.8 Mbps, a 33.7% increase over the prior year.
Fiber Upstream Average Usage of 94.1 GB per subscriber was 61.6% greater than DOCSIS upstream consumption (58.2 GB), continuing a trend of significantly higher fiber upstream traffic.

OpenVault CEO and Founder Mark Trudeau will discuss the findings and their implications for the industry on a webinar on Wednesday, September 16 at 11 a.m. EST. Registration is at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uORUjgbRQTqhzgHDGg3mWg.

The entire report is at https://openvault.com/resources/ovbi/.

OpenVault will be exhibiting its Vantage suite in Booth 532 at The Independent Show July 27-28 at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Convention Center. OpenVault CEO and Founder Mark Trudeau will join Light Reading senior editor Jeff Baumgartner and broadband provider executives on the “Network Infrastructure – Preparing for ‘What’s Next’” panel on Tuesday, July 28 (3:00 – 3:45 p.m.). The conversation will focus on solutions that are extending the life and capabilities of current infrastructures. To learn more about the Vantage suite or to schedule a meeting at The Independent Show please contact OpenVault at sales@openvault.com.

About OpenVault

OpenVault and OpenVault Europe GmbH are market-leading sources of network agnostic broadband technology solutions and data-driven insights into worldwide broadband consumption patterns. Using the companies’ solutions, service providers can optimize network performance, increase revenue, and improve subscriber satisfaction. OpenVault and OpenVault Europe aggregate and analyze the data collected from broadband networks to provide unparalleled granular views of consumer usage and network health. This data analysis drives a suite of actionable and automated solutions that dramatically improve subscribers’ Quality of Experience, providing operators with tremendous value through software while avoiding the need for large-scale infrastructure spending.

For more information, please visit openvault.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Kristen Nihamin at knihamin@openvault.com or 917-509-9028

Paul Schneider at paul@paulschneiderpr.com or 215-817-4384

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