Netflix awaits the next court judgement after SK levies fees for broadband traffic

SK broadband has made counterclaims against one of the largest OTT platforms, Netflix. The South Korean internet service provider has demanded payment for the bandwidth that Netflix has used since 2019. In June this year, the South Korean court had ruled against Netflix over its payment. 

After the lawsuit came out this year, SK Broadband can now officially demand usage fees to all the OTT platforms running in South Korea. With the excessive consumption of bandwidth and bringing huge traffic load on the internet, Netflix and all other streaming platforms have to pay the due amount. 

SK Broadband is a subsidiary of South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom. On the other hand, Netflix is one of the largest streaming platforms controlling a major space in the OTT market. 

Netflix spoke to the media regarding the issue. “We will review the claim that SK Broadband has filed against us. In the meantime, we continue to seek the open dialogue and explore ways of working with SK Broadband to ensure a seamless streaming experience for our shared customers,” an official from Netflix said in a media statement. 

After losing the first court case against Korean telecom firms, the platform has appealed to the higher court for further judgement on the case. The appeal dismisses the claims made by SK Broadband which oversees internet services and provides bandwidth to the users. 

With the recent show Squid Game entering the platform, internet usage skyrocketed in South Korea and worldwide. The show increased the number of subscribers by almost two-thirds in the month of the show launch. As a result, the surge in traffic made internet providers upgrade their network since the launch. According to the reports, the internet speed in South Korea is 11 times faster than what runs in the US. However, the traffic has disturbed the flow and caused a comparatively slower network. 

Reportedly, Netflix has claimed that Internet Service Provides are attempting to bill twice for its services. The ISP companies are not supposed to demand payment for services that the subscribers are already paying for.

According to the reports, SK Broadband gets payments of around $23 million for its internet services offered in a year. The Korean telecom giant claims that Netflix has surged the traffic rapidly. It amounts to around 24 times more than earlier usage, from 50GB per second to 1200GB in not more than three years.