Coronavirus Impacts International Telecoms in China and South Korea

Research on the impact of Coronavirus on international telecommunications has been released by Spearline.

Spearline’s aggregate platform data provides insights into how networks are performing.

To date, China saw a 7.2% drop in audio quality in late January, while South Korea had a noted increase in connection issues and a 12% decrease in audio quality in late February.

Speaking about the findings, Kevin Buckley, co-founder and CEO at Spearline, said: “Since late January, the decrease in China’s audio quality has stabilized, with no further impact detected. However a 12% drop within a two-week period in South Korea is massive.”  

“Last week, Italy emerged as an area of concern and we are monitoring any changes in audio quality there closely.”

Kevin Buckley

“Carrier engineers are unable to access key sites for repair due to restricted movement. Businesses are altering work patterns and imposing travel freezes and staff are working remotely from home offices.”  

“This new mass dynamic shifts the demand on local and national telecoms networks, impacting international telecoms services as a whole,” continued Mr Buckley.

Spearline has servers in over 70 countries, covers 89% of GDP and reaches 90% of landlines globally. It has conducted millions of test calls worldwide, resulting in billions of data-points.

The company operates a support service 24 hours per day, 365 days per year for its customers internationally.  

For more information about Spearline, visit: www.spearline.com

Author: Robyn Coppell