Vodafone Germany announced that in 2022, data consumption over its mobile network went up by 34 percent, to a record level of over 1 billion GB.

The date in 2022 with the greatest data use was 23 November, when the men’s national football team lost their match against Japan in the FIFA World Cup tournament. Usage that day was approximately 6.5 million GB of mobile data, compared with an average of about 5 million GB on a normal day.

The operator also said mobile network usage patterns are returning to what they were before the coronavirus pandemic, with voice calls getting shorter again. Another sign of a return to normality as the pandemic abates is that people are tending to use their smartphones early in the morning once again, now that they have to get up to commute to work, said the operator.

Tarifica’s Take

The 2022 mobile use patterns reported by Vodafone Germany (i.e., shorter voice calls and more data use, especially in the mornings as people return to work in offices) present yet another set of data feeding into the larger global trend of life returning to pre-pandemic “normalcy”.

This data also offers an additional point of interest: the numbers surrounding World Cup viewership. Compared to average daily use, data use on Vodafone Germany’s network increased by 30% on the date the country’s national football team lost their match against Japan. Even for a large event where many would plan their day around watching, this is a massive increase. It suggests that a substantially large number of people chose to watch the match on their mobile devices, which is another good indication that these major events represent a valuable opportunity for mobile carriers to craft targeted short-term viewing packages or other data offerings.