As a subsidiary of SK Telecom, SK Broadband, a South Korean Internet Service Provider, has filed a counterclaim against Netflix over bandwidth charges, asking the video streaming giant to pay for the high bandwidth overhead over the past three years. In fact, as early as the ruling in June this year, the South Korean court had given relevant guidance, that is, ISP has the right to impose this part of the fees on the streaming platform due to excessive bandwidth consumption and excessive network traffic burden.
(screenshot via Kpopmap)
Netflix The spokesperson's answer was: "We will review the claims filed by SK Broadband while continuing to seek to explore collaboration through public conversations to ensure a seamless streaming experience for customers."
In 2020, the American streaming giant had lost the first lawsuit and then filed a second instance in the superior court in July. Netflix accuses ISP of trying to "double charges" on the grounds that customers have paid for their broadband.
Korean media reported that SK Broadband plans to impose traffic fees of about $23 million per year on Netflix. Although the South Korean Communications Commission tried to match in 2019, the two sides ultimately failed to reach an agreement.
On the one hand, SK Broadband said that the traffic of Netflix on the ISP network has increased exponentially by about 24 times. From 50 gigabits per second in May 2018, it soared to 1200 gigabits in September 2021.
On the other hand, Netflix responded on September 28 that its investment in content production in South Korea has brought about a socio-economic impact worth US$4.7 billion, covering all areas from publishing to consumption.
Referring to the data mentioned in the Deloitte Consulting Report, Netflix has created 16,000 jobs in South Korea since opening in 2016.
As of the end of 2020, Netflix has 3.8 million paid subscribers in South Korea, and the number of subscribers worldwide is about 200 million.
Finally, a Netflix spokesperson said in another statement: The Korean program "Squid Game" is expected to become the company's best-performing product of all time, and it is also the first Korean program to top Netflix in the US.
Meanwhile, another global streaming giant Disney+ will be available in the Korean market in November. However, it has been reported that the company plans to use a third-party content delivery network (CDN) to avoid incurring bandwidth fees related to ISP networks.
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