Television service providers have welcomed the arrival of Netflix in Malta, noting the service was actually complementary to theirs and addressed a gap that had forced people to opt for illegal services.
The worldwide internet television network announced on Wednesday it had gone live almost all over the world including Malta. The news was welcomed by some but raised questions on whether internet service providers, which are also TV service providers, could keep up with increased demand.
This follows complaints by android box users who said they could not use their devices because of low internet speeds.
When contacted, a Melita spokesman noted that unlike Netflix, services used on android boxes or similar devices were generally unlicensed and unregulated and might not provide the expected quality and reliability.
GO embraces this new service and views it as complementary to its current offering
Attributing low speeds to the Melita network was “simply a myth fuelled by sources who persist in selling illegal devices to customers without explaining that the illegal streaming of content is designed to consume very large portions of bandwidth”. While the company continuously invested to meet demand, these devices adopted protocols that took away network capacity at the expense of users – usually without their knowledge.
Speed tests, including independent ones, carried out when customers raised such queries have shown that the modem would be receiving a stable connection and the promised bandwidth, he said.
He explained that while legal content providers such as Google, YouTube and Netflix collaborated with ISPs to enhance the viewing experience, peer-to-peer and streaming providers of unlicensed content (such as those on android boxes) used technical solutions that could not offer such quality. Their content was usually spread among multiple servers and made use of customer bandwidth – without the latter knowing – to distribute content.
“In contrast with European countries where users and distributors of illegal devices are fined by government agencies and authorities, in Malta distributors of such devices promote themselves as ‘service providers’. They are totally unregulated and charge monthly subscription fees while not paying content owners for the licensing of content.”
In a statement issued earlier, Melita welcomed Netflix, as it said such providers addressed a gap that had been forcing customers to opt for illegal and unsecure platforms. Such services, it added, were complementary to its traditional TV services.
This was reiterated by GO, which said the launch of Netflix had been anticipated for some time. “This is part of a general trend towards legal communications and entertainment services which are offered as over-the-top services via the internet. GO embraces this new service and views it as complementary to its current offering,” a spokesman said.
He added that the GO internet network has seen exponential growth in subscribers and bandwidth usage. Its customers’ quality service experience will not be affected by the launch of Netflix which quotes a minimum internet speed requirement of 0.5 megabits per second.
The spokesman for Melita also noted that it had a five-year investment plan and had seen an increase in broadband speeds over the past few years.