The long and short of it: optimising mobile networks for video

Vodafone and Meta want to make it easier for you to watch short-form videos on your mobile. How is this being accomplished, and could their plan save the rest of the web from being bogged down too?

If you’ve noticed your Instagram Reels loading faster recently, thank Vodafone and Meta, who have joined forces to implement new network optimisation for short-form video across eleven European countries.

This follows a similar announcement from Telefónica and Meta earlier this month, revealing that the two are also working on optimising video traffic.

The change comes after an initial three-week test conducted in the UK during April 2024, which saw a “low double-digit reduction” in network traffic for Meta applications across Vodafone’s network, depending on loading and the devices involved.

This has allowed Vodafone to reallocate network resources at busy venues such as shopping centres and transport hubs, so the benefits can be felt by all.

With short-form video content threatening to swallow the entire internet, it’s hoped this approach can tackle network congestion and improve the mobile user experience across Europe, as well as support new digital services and save energy.

Meta has said that the new efficiencies are the result of improvements to its video engineering and infrastructure deployment, but are playing coy as to precisely how they’ve accomplished this.

Alberto Ripepi, Chief Network Officer at Vodafone, didn’t elaborate much either, saying “Meta’s willingness to optimise the delivery of video for its applications leads the way for a more efficient use of existing network resources.”

Telefónica’s announcement elaborates on “the adoption of the latest and most efficient video codecs and the development of standards that improve coordination between applications and networks,” hinting that both schemes could be utilising more efficient compression technologies, which adjust the quality of video in real-time based on network conditions.

Alternatively, they could be using network slicing to create a partition specifically for short-form video, ensuring that this data is isolated from other types of traffic; Vodafone has this month been touting its network slicing credentials at Glastonbury. Or this could be the work of a Content Delivery Network (CDN), ensuring that video travels through the most efficient route.

At present this collaboration appears to be focused primarily on platforms owned by Meta, but both Vodafone and Meta said they are “open to working with all players in the ecosystem to continuously improve the efficient use of network resources.”

And it’s an ecosystem that is continuing to grow, as the amount of video consumed on mobile devices surges, placing increasing demands on network infrastructure.

73% of all internet traffic is now video, according to Ericsson’s latest Mobility Report, driven in large part by the global success of TikTok and its various pretenders, including Instagram’s Reels, Snapchat, and YouTube Shorts. Conversely however, TikTok is reportedly targeting longer-form content of up to an hour to compete for total online video dominance.

Vodafone’s choice to collaborate with Meta is notable, given it was Facebook that ushered in the last great pivot-to-video in the mid-2010s, which saw many new media companies go all in on video, at the expense of written content.

That was, until a report by the Wall Street Journal in 2016 revealed that the metrics behind this were largely false. Though the fallout of these decisions took time to manifest, once-mighty online stalwarts such as Vice, MTV News and Buzzfeed News have all since closed or drastically reduced the scope of their operations.

For now, at least though, video content continues to dominate internet traffic and collaborations between telcos and tech firms will become essential for managing network resources efficiently and ensuring smooth, high-quality user experiences.

Telcos and big tech working together using existing network resources to provide a better experience for customers – does this put to bed the fair contribution debate? It’s highly unlikely that telcos will go down without a fight, but for now, any further movement is delayed until next year.

As the providers of bandwidth, telcos are well placed to position themselves as a key driver of the online video value chain, combining cutting-edge networking methods to achieve meaningful reductions in network traffic, and pave the way for broader adoption of these practices. And for customers, these optimisations can deliver not only smoother online video, but reduce their data consumption too.

Above all though, this demonstrates what’s possible when telcos and content providers co-operate to deliver improvements to the user experience, rather than bicker over who foots the bill for connectivity.