UK ISPs warn of rising broadband costs due to popularity of web video services

August 14, 2007 – The huge growth in popularity of online video services could well lead to increases in the cost of broadband for consumers in the UK, according to Internet service providers (ISPs) in the country.

ISPs in the UK such as Tiscali have warned that the explosion of on-demand video services, such as the BBC’s recently-launched iPlayer, will “undoubtedly” congest the network.  Upgrades for the networks are anticipated to be required to ensure these services work, with the costs expected to be passed on to the consumer.  Another alternative would be to limit access to these services, such as by traffic shaping, whereby ISPs delay packets of information sent over the network until the congestion has eased.

Tiscali said in a statement that: “Peer to Peer traffic is the first to be affected at peak times making downloading slower but not limiting it with any caps.  iPlayer traffic would fall into this category, although at present would not be specifically targeted.”  The ISP is reportedly most concerned about the iPlayer as it offers high quality video via a free service, and could gain momentum quickly.

Research firm Screen Digest predicts that the number of pieces of content viewed across the net will increase from 520.2mn to 2.3bn by 2011.  A BBC spokesperson commented on the situation that: “We are in regular discussions with the ISPs and together are monitoring the costs associated with video-on-demand.”