Cologne - Internet traffic in Germany has breached a new record, hitting 20 gigabytes per second as broadband - which in Germany is mostly in the form of DSL connections - becomes widespread.

Disclosing the figure on Thursday, Harald Summa, secretary of the Internet business alliance Eco, said: "This continues the general trend for traffic in Germany to double every 14 months."

If 20 gigabytes were put on paper, it would fill 100 billion A4-size pages.

Traffic peaks daily between 4pm and 9pm Monday to Friday, suggesting it is customary for Germans to go online after work, and there is also a spike on Sunday afternoons as weekends draw to a close. - Sapa-dpa