Squid Game: Netflix sued by South Korean broadband firm after traffic surges from hit show

South Korean Internet service provider SK Broadband sues Netflix A spokesperson for SK said on Friday that the US firm’s content has increased viewership due to increased network traffic and to pay for the cost of maintenance work. The move comes after a court in Seoul said that Netflix should give an Internet service provider something “reasonable” for network use, and several South Korean lawmakers have spoken out against content providers that continue to generate explosive traffic despite network usage. do not pay for.

Netflix said it will review SK Broadband’s claim, and seek talks and ways to work with SK Broadband in the meantime to ensure that customers are not affected. Popularity of the hit series “squid game“And other offerings underpin Netflix’s position as the country’s second largest data traffic generator after Google. youtube, but are the only two not to pay network usage fees, which other content providers such as heroine, Apple And Facebook are paying, SK said.

Netflix’s data traffic handled by SK increased 24 times from May 2018 to 1.2 trillion bits of data processed per second, SK said, riding on the success of several Netflix productions from Korea, including “Squid Game” and “DP.” Huh.

SK Broadband said it has filed a lawsuit against Netflix for paying to use SK’s network after Netflix began using SK’s dedicated line from 2018 to allow viewers in Korea to connect to servers in Japan. To deliver large amounts of data-heavy, high-definition video content. Hong Kong.

Last year, Netflix brought its own lawsuit over whether it had any obligation to pay SK for use of the network, arguing that Netflix’s duty ends with creating content and leaving it accessible. It said SK’s expenses were incurred while meeting its contractual obligations to Internet users, and that delivery into the Internet world is “free as of principle”, according to court documents.

But the Seoul Central District Court ruled against Netflix in June, saying that SK is seen as “a service provided at a cost” and that Netflix is ​​not entitled to “provide something in return for the service.” To be “obliged” is “reasonable”.

The court document said SK estimated that Netflix would have to pay about $27.2 billion ($22.9 million) in 2020 alone to pay network usage fees. Netflix has appealed against the ruling, with new proceedings set to begin in late December, court records showed.

Netflix said in a statement on Wednesday that it has contributed to the creation of about 16,000 jobs in South Korea, an investment of about 770 billion won, as well as an economic impact of about 5.6 trillion won.

Ruling party lawmaker Kim Sang-hee said on Wednesday that 78.5% of South Korea’s top 10 data traffic generators came from foreign content providers, up from 73.1 percent a year ago, including “Google-YouTube and Netflix”. , who are responsible for it. Most of the people turn a blind eye to the network usage charges”.

In the United States, Netflix has been charging broadband provider Comcast Corp (CMCSA.o) for faster streaming speeds for more than seven years.

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