Business broadband internet traffic increased by almost a fifth as employees logged on to watch George Osborne's Budget speech.

On-demand computing and communication services firm Star revealed a spike was seen at 13:00 GMT on Wednesday (March 23rd 2011), as the chancellor made his announcement in parliament.

The company warned high-definition TV streaming can use as much as 1.5Gb of data every hour.

Hugo Harber, director of products and market solutions at Star, said major news and events typically lead to an increase in online traffic.

"To ensure business as usual and prevent networks from feelings the strain of this additional traffic, IT departments should make provisions to ensure that critical network applications are not affected," he advised.

At the time of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, Star revealed data consumption from business broadband users hit an all-time high during England's crucial group match with Slovenia.

Levels of recorded traffic during the clash were twice as high as typical volumes, the company discovered.

Add a comment

Comment

Your name

Your e-mail address

Comments (0)