The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on digital infrastructure and services

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused drastic changes in the telecommunications and information and communication technologies market. The telecommunications sector is becoming one of the key ones in combating the consequences caused by the pandemic. It appears that digitalization, right behind health care, is crucial for successfully overcoming the new situations and that its role will be even more dominant in the future. Access to the Internet has provided an opportunity for everyday life to unfold. However, due to the growing need for network access, congestion occurs and the availability of consumable resources is reduced. It was necessary to efficiently solve the new problems on the network and overcome all the challenges to make the digital infrastructure more ready and reliable for future emergencies. In this paper, the importance of the digital infrastructure and the availability of telecommunication services during the COVID-19 pandemic are analyzed. The effects of the growing Internet traffic volume on the availability and network performances are presented. Potential critical segments and limitations of the existing digital infrastructure, as well as the future development goals for telecommunication networks, are identified. In addition, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the digital divide and digital economies are observed.