DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - Germany's cell phone networks have transferred significantly more data than before. Network operator Vodafone reported a 34 percent increase this year to a good 1.8 billion gigabytes and Deutsche Telekom by more than 30 percent to around 2.4 billion gigabytes. The reason for the growth is that people stream a lot on their smartphones and use other data-intensive applications when they are on the move and not connected to fixed-network wifi. It had already gone up steeply in previous years, and this increase is now continuing.

In the annual figures, consumption on the last days of the year is estimated. Telefónica (O2) did not want to give a total annual figure yet. However, the company had already torn the threshold of three billion gigabytes in November, it is likely to be well above that by the end of the year. In 2021, the data volume in the O2 network had amounted to 2.4 billion gigabytes and in 2020 1.5 billion gigabytes.

At Telekom, cell phone users consumed around two and a half times more data volume for Tiktok and Instagram this year than in 2021. There was also a lot of mobile streaming during the World Cup, as figures from Vodafone make clear: This network operator recorded the highest daily consumption of 6.5 million gigabytes on the day Germany lost to Japan. When the game kicked off at 2 p.m. Central European Time, many people were in the office, where they reached for their smartphones to watch. The other German World Cup games were broadcast in the evening, when many people were at home on wifi.

The trend toward rates with more data volume continued. "Private customers are booking larger and larger data packages," said Telefónica Germany CEO Markus Haas, pointing to the increasing role of industry and other sectors in growth. "We're also seeing the data surge in demand from businesses, which are increasingly relying on digital networking solutions."

Phone calls, however, have become shorter again. At Vodafone, for example, they lasted less than three minutes on average, about the same as before the Corona pandemic. "The mobile network is back in everyday mode," said Vodafone's head of technology for Germany, Tanja Richter. "The normality that we are finally experiencing again in many places at work and in our leisure time is also reflected in the network: the duration of phone calls is back to normal."/wdw/DP/stk