You already know that Ukrainians are taking to platforms like Twitter, Telegram, and TikTok to share the sights and sounds of Russia’s invasion.
But here’s a new development: in just one month, carriers have clocked a sevenfold increase in international voice traffic to Ukraine.
Where does this data come from?
i3forum Insights—a market database for international voice services—recorded an increase from 10 million to 70 million inbound international voice minutes to Ukraine in March 2022.
"Voice services have been vital for creating personal, close communication between friends and families separated due to the Ukraine crisis."
“Voice services have been vital for creating personal, close communication between friends and families separated due to the Ukraine crisis. i3forum Insights brings this data and critical market trend to light,” said Cedric Godin, Interim Chairman at i3forum. “There’s just no substitute for the human voice, and in times of stress when we want to stay connected to loved ones, telephone calls have a very important role to play. We’re proud to be part of an industry that is keeping people connected during these difficult and unforeseen circumstances.”
About i3forum Insights
Operated by TeleGeography, the i3forum Insights platform provides intelligence on more than 17,400 destinations. Data is contributed by participating carriers including BICS, BTS, iBasis, Orange, Tata Communications, Sparkle, Telefónica, and Telstra.
Any carrier can sign up to upload their voice traffic data. This data is then anonymized and aggregated into an industry database that users can leverage to benchmark their own performance against the industry aggregate.
“It was powerful to see the rapid acceleration of Ukraine’s incoming international voice traffic in such a short space of time.”
“It was powerful to see the rapid acceleration of Ukraine’s incoming international voice traffic in such a short space of time. With so many people separated, voice calling provides an invaluable way of staying connected,” said Tim Stronge, TeleGeography VP of Research. “Beyond shining a light on traffic volumes, i3forum Insights provides information on quality, service level, and revenue. It’s a powerful tool that’s providing users with a true view of telecommunications trends across markets. The more carriers that join, the richer this data becomes.”
Tim Stronge
Tim Stronge is VP of Research at TeleGeography. His responsibilities span across many of our research practices including network infrastructure, bandwidth demand modeling, cross-border traffic flows, and telecom services pricing.