A Free Rider Problem
Netflix has declared not to pay network fees in South Korea, following in the footsteps of Google and Facebook.
Netflix Korea filed a suit against SK Broadband on April 13, claiming that it does not have to pay the costs for network operation, expansion and use requested by the latter.
Their network fee conflict dates back to last year. SK Broadband claimed that Netflix caused a surge in data traffic without paying the price. Netflix, in response, said that no content provider must pay the fee and proposed free cache server installation for easier traffic management.
The two sides negotiated on the issue, failed to reach an agreement, and asked the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) to intervene in November last year. As a result of the filing, however, the KCC is no longer a part of the issue.
“We made repeated requests for cooperation with SK Broadband as in the previous cases of LG U+, LG Hello and D’live,” Netflix explained, adding, “Despite the suit, we will continue to work for consumers together with SK Broadband.”