14 August 2007
The emergence of new online video services could lead to price increases for broadband customers, internet service providers have warned.
The popularity of services such as Channel 4's 4OD and the new BBC iPlayer could create congestion on the internet and mean higher broadband costs for the average customer.
Indeed, improvements will need to be made to cope with demand as downloading videos uses up a lot of bandwith, Tiscali has warned.
According to figures from Ofcom it could cost up to £830 million to upgrade the network to cope with the so-called traffic jams expected to arise as a result of the video sites.
And many ISPs say they may have to limit access to their own services through traffic shaping, which means delaying information sent across the network until congestion is eased.
"Peer to Peer traffic is the first to be affected at peak times making downloading slower but not limiting it with any caps," Tiscali said in a statement.
"iPlayer traffic would fall into this category, although at present would not be specifically targeted."
Speaking to the Telegraph, Mary Turner, the Chief Executive of Tiscali UK said: "The internet was not set up with a view to distributing video. If the iPlayer really takes off, consumers accessing the internet will get very slow service."
However a BBC spokesman told the newspaper: "We are in regular discussions with the ISPs and together are monitoring the costs associated with video on demand.
"The delivery of TV programmes over the internet is still a very young service, and we can expect that everything from ISP service packages to consumer electronic equipment will evolve over the next few years."
Over the next four years the number of videos watched over the internet is expected to increase four fold.
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