April 26, 2024
Mobile & Internet
KT to expand overseas network to handle Netflix traffic
Korea’s No. 1 broadband service provider KT said on Feb. 7 it will expand its overseas network capacity to deal with a sharp rise in traffic caused by US video streaming giant Netflix.
KT joined its local peers to increase its network capacity abroad to handle a growing number of complaints over the streaming quality and speed of high-resolution videos offered by Netflix.
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The telco plans to expand overseas bandwidth this month in line with Netflix’s traffic usage so as to not cause inconvenience among customers,” a KT official said, without elaborating on the scope of the network capacity and schedule.
“KT plans to expand its international network in February in line with Netflix’s recent data volume and traffic status to prevent any customer inconvenience,” the Korean telecom company said in an emailed statement.
Last month, SK Broadband said it will double the overseas network to 100 gigabits per second to deal with the heavy traffic from Netflix.
In November, its smaller rival, LG Uplus formed a partnership with Netflix to provide its content on its IPTV set-top boxes.
To watch Netflix in HD quality, a user must have a connection speed of 5 megabits per second or faster and a steady internet connection speed of 25 Mbps or higher for Ultra HD.
The number of Netflix users on the Android platform in Korea jumped from 340,000 in January 2018 to 1.27 million in December of the year, according to market tracker Wise App.
By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)
