Net firm warns on web video costs

[gkd_uk]

The explosion in popularity of online video could lead to increases in the cost of broadband for UK consumers.
Internet services providers, such as Tiscali, say that the raft of recently launched on-demand services will "undoubtedly" congest the network.

Upgrades to the net could be needed to ensure services such as the BBC iPlayer continue to work properly, with costs passed on to the consumer, they say.

Alternatively, the ISPs say they would have to limit access to services.

One option that would allow them to do this would be to use so-called traffic shaping.

This involves delaying packets of information sent across the network until congestion has eased.

Tiscali already targets some of its customer's traffic using the technology.

"Peer to Peer traffic is the first to be affected at peak times making downloading slower but not limiting it with any caps," the company said in a statement. "iPlayer traffic would fall into this category, although at present would not be specifically targeted."

BT, which operates most of the net's infrastructure in the UK, said that it continually monitors network traffic and had not expressed any concerns about specific services such as the iPlayer.

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[temi]

Broadband is already quite expensive in UK compared with other countries