Streaming quality compromised to ease networks
BRUSSELS,NEWDELHI: Youtube will sacrifice streaming quality in the EU to help avert internet gridlock as tens of millions of Europeans, confined by the coronavirus outbreak, switch to working from home.
Alphabet Inc’s Youtube is the third online video company after Netflix and Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video to respond to a call by the European Union industry chief Thierry Breton to cut picture quality to prevent overload.
While mobile networks are coping so far they could come under increased pressure as lockdowns to slow the pandemic become stricter and broader. Streaming video can account for 60% or more of traffic on fixed and mobile networks and the planned March 24 launch of Disney+ in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland could create a new pain point.
Carriers have been told by the EU not to prioritise traffic as this would violate its net neutrality rules. “We are making a commitment to temporarily switch all traffic in the EU to standard definition by default,” Youtube said in a statement after Breton spoke to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki.
The virus outbreak has shuttered schools, businesses and restaurants in much of the region, sending millions of people home—where they’re using services like Netflix, Prime Video and Youtube. The amount of time people spent streaming spiked by more than 20% worldwide last weekend, including more than 40% in Austria and Spain.
While traffic has increased, EU telecom regulators say there haven’t been any signs of congestion in Europe .
Meanwhile, in India, staterun telecom firm BSNL, on Friday, announced free broadband service for its landline and new customers for a month to support ‘work from home’ allowed by most organisations amid the coronavirus outbreak.
New customers opting for copper cable based connection will not have to pay even installation charges but will need to buy modem for the service, BSNL officials said.