Analysis of Internet Traffic in Ecuador

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of Internet traffic growth and behavior in Ecuador over five years, focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this trend. This period allows us to analyze the behavior of the Internet before, during, and after the pandemic from a quantitative point of view, given that a study related to this topic has not been presented in the country in recent years. This study examines the fundamental concepts of autonomous systems (AS) and Internet exchange points. AEPROVI (Association of Internet Service Providers, Value-added Services, Carriers, and Information Technologies) provides the data for traffic analysis. This data has allowed us to analyze the distribution of assigned and utilized IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, local prefix exchanges of major AS, and bit rate capacities used by major Internet Service Providers. In addition, this study investigates how the pandemic increased the demand for virtual education and telework, resulting in an unanticipated surge in Internet traffic that placed additional burdens on existing infrastructure. The paper also highlights how ISPs responded by increasing the capacity of their links, resulting in a significant increase in the bit rate (throughput) used during the study period.