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BT says content providers cannot get ‘free ride’

Following the BBC’s comments about BT throttling broadband connections, BT goes public on the issue.

Yesterday, just before Radio 4’s “You and Yours” programme was to be aired about BT and the iPlayer, it received an email from BT explain their stance on the issue.

John Petter, managing director of BT Retail’s consumer business said: “We can’t give the content providers a completely free ride and continue to give customers the service they want at the price they expect.”

Last week, the BBC ran an article on how users’ speeds were being throttled (or limited) during the evenings on BT’s option 1 plan.

BT says there is a huge cost in terms of bandwidth to deliver iPlayer content to users.  However, it says that it’s not just limited to the iPlayer, but all video content sites.  Other ISPs have complained in the past about the cost of delivering high bandwidth content over their networks.

The Digital Britain report is due out from the Government next week which,  amongst other things is expected to propose a universal broadband commitment to provide every household in the UK with broadband access.

BT reckons this will be at a low price, and to make that happen would involve content owners making a contribution.