NTC asks Netflix to manage bitrate on streaming to ease data congestion

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said Wednesday it has requested U.S. online streaming platform Netflix to manage its bitrate to ease data congestion during the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.

“The measure will help free-up bandwidth as the increased demand by subscribers may risk overloading network capacity during the quarantine period,” the NTC said.

“Data consumption is expected to surge due to the work from home arrangements as well as increased government, private and education demands,” it said.

Bitrate refers to the amount of data, in bits per second, that is transmitted through a digital network.

In its reply, Netflix Pte Ltd. heeded the government's request.

“Given the crisis, we’ve developed a way to reduce Netflix’s traffic on telecommunications networks by 25% while also maintaining the quality of service,” Netflix vice president for Content Delivery Ken Florance said in a separate statement.

“So consumers should continue to get the quality that comes with their plan - whether it’s Ultra-High, High or Standard Definition. We believe that this will provide significant relief to congested networks and will be deploying it in the Philippines for the next 30 days,” Florance said. -MDM, GMA News