The joint work that operators such as Movistar and Vodafone have begun to carry out with Meta, the company that owns WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, is bearing fruit. The latest figures that have reached the press speak of a significant reduction in data consumption by these applications and social services.
In July, we saw Movistar and Vodafone announce agreements with Meta with the intention of starting to make adjustments to their services so that the data traffic they generate could be reduced. This was crucial, since the operators were seeing how their 5G mobile networks were collapsing due to the accumulation of what has sometimes been called “junk traffic.” Now we have news about the impact that these agreements are having and, without a doubt, they are worth celebrating.
An important victory
Meta is by no means the only player that plays a vital role in reducing data consumption that must be carried out on the Internet. But it is true that, as the owner of some of the most well-known social networks and services in the world, it is a company that is always at the forefront when it comes to these actions. For this reason, both Telefónica and Vodafone saw that it was essential to reach an agreement with them and reach some kind of solution.
Data reaching Expansión from sources familiar with these processes indicate that the reduction in data consumption that has already been achieved with the implemented adjustments is 20%. That, applied to the enormous volume of traffic generated by these services, ends up becoming an enormous amount of traffic and data that will help to greatly alleviate the service provided by the operators.
How are they achieving this?
Both Movistar and Vodafone have carried out independent initiatives in collaboration with Meta. But, in both cases, the objective is based on the same type of mission: reducing the traffic generated by videos, especially the broadcasting and viewing of short videos. Due to the success of this type of content, it is a fundamental element when it comes to giving networks some breathing room and ensuring that telecommunications operators do not have to find themselves in difficult situations.
In the case of Vodafone, the operator carried out a series of experiments with Meta in the United Kingdom in April, which apparently have yielded very positive results, indicating that the reduction in data has been significant. For its part, Telefónica has carried out experiments on Spanish soil. They have carried them out in close collaboration with Meta and have applied them not only to 5G networks, but also to 4G networks.
To achieve this, they are applying technologies to reduce data consumption at the source, in each social network or application, so that when the videos are transmitted they take up less space and leave a smaller footprint on telecommunications networks. Of course, for Meta this was appropriate as long as the image quality of the videos was not reduced. However, thanks to the collaboration of the different companies involved in the tests, they have managed to both reduce the weight and not reduce the quality of the videos, which is a beneficial result for all parties.
Estimates suggest that with a 20% reduction in the transmission required for these videos, operators can save between 3 and 5% of their total traffic. This can make a huge difference in the long term for the management and smooth operation of mobile networks. The only problem is that operators actually wanted the companies that own these social apps and services to participate in the investment in network improvements. This is practically a given that it will not happen, so now what companies like Movistar want is to get these companies to collaborate, at least, to implement technological changes.
However, although Meta has shown itself open to this, there are other entities that may not be so interested. And that will be a problem for telecommunications networks to achieve greater stability. For example, Movistar, Vodafone and other operators would need companies such as Netflix and other figures in the streaming sector to also adopt such measures.
