Internet usage surges during Ramadan, Ookla testing reveals

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Wednesday June 8, 2022

Internet usage patterns in majority Muslim countries changed drastically as they observed Ramadan according to research from Ookla.

Ookla analysed Speedtest Intelligence to determine how Ramadan affected internet usage, looking specifically at test volume during local fast times and iftar (when the fast is broken) and looked at how those numbers compared to test volume from the month before.

The research firm found that there was a decrease in the percentage of tests completed in the daytime between Ramadan and the month prior in all of the countries surveyed.

The countries were Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia and Turkey.

There was also an increase in the percentage of Speedtest results from iftar when comparing Ramadan to the month prior.

Out of the countries surveyed, Somalia and Algeria saw the largest increases while Malaysia, Bangladesh, Turkey and Pakistan saw the smallest increases.

This, Ookla says, corresponds with the idea that people shift online activity to iftar during Ramadan as they connect with friends and families, while also enjoying new shows that networks release to coincide with the holiday.

It should be noted, though, that the percentage of the population that is Muslim, and therefore likely to observe Ramadan varies from Somalia (99.8%) to Malaysia (61.3%).

Similarly, Cloudflare Radar, which analyses key internet trends, showed that internet traffic impacted several countries by Ramadan, with a clear increase in traffic before sunrise and a bigger than usual decrease after sunset.

According to that data, Afghanistan saw a 203% rise in internet usage before sunrise during Ramadan, while Pakistan saw the second biggest increase at 119%.

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