Internet Global data traffic increases significantly
Data traffic on the internet is growing at an ever-increasing rate. DE-CIX, one of the world's leading internet exchange operators, recorded an increase in data traffic of around 16% to 79 exabytes at its locations worldwide in 2025.
21.01.2026, 06:36
SDA
Last year, football matches in the UEFA Champions League once again set daily records. The world's highest data throughput was achieved on December 9, 2025 with a peak value of 26.99 terabits per second (Tbit/s) at all DE-CIX locations.
On this day, the UEFA Champions League football teams met for the sixth match day. In the past, big matches were mainly watched via linear TV. Today, a large proportion of viewing takes place via streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, DAZN, RTL+ and Sky Go, via apps and smart TVs as well as via mobile devices.
All-time high due to football
Among other things, Eintracht Frankfurt met FC Barcelona on this record-breaking day and narrowly lost 2:1 in a thrilling match after leading at half-time. The data record of 26.99 Tbit/s corresponds to around five billion smartphone photos sent per second. On this day, the internet node also set its own all-time record of 18.73 Tbit/s.
Network node as an economic factor
DE-CIX operates Europe's largest Internet exchange point in Frankfurt am Main, which is also one of the largest data exchange points in the world. The data statistics presented include not only the Frankfurt network node, but also the distribution points in Mumbai, New York, Madrid and other DE-CIX locations, which link more than 3,400 local, regional and global networks.
The network node in Frankfurt has been driving the construction of new data centers in the Main region for years. This makes the Frankfurt region the leading cloud location in Europe.
