5G Customers Consume Twice the Data of 4G Users, SKT Says

The total amount of data consumption of SK Telecom 5G subscribers is about double that of usage by 4G customers, the company says.

Consumption reached 62,000 TB on average per month over the past three months (Dec. 2019 ~ Feb. 2020). During the same period, the average monthly data usage of subscribers who switched devices from LTE to 5G has increased about twofold from 14.5 GB (LTE) to 28.5 GB (5G) per person.

There are two likely explanations for the increase. First, faster speeds generally lead to higher consumption per unit of time. That was true of 4G data consumption compared to 3G, for example.  Also, 5G customers seem to be watching more video. 

source: Ting

Video streaming at high-definition quality requires 16.5 times the bandwidth of gaming or music streaming and 1,000 times more bandwidth than web browsing (per page). If one assumes a user moves through five pages per minute, then HD video consumes 200 times more bandwidth than web browsing. 

“SK Telecom’s 5G subscribers are found to be using media services, which generally require greater speeds and bandwidths, much more actively than LTE subscribers,” SKT says. “As of February 2020, 5G subscribers are using seven times more VR services, 3.6 times more video streaming services and 2.7 times more game apps than LTE subscribers.”