Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings has told shareholders that the company regrets signing data cap agreements with australian ISPs.
Before Netflix was released in Australia, the US-based company signed unmetered usage deals with Australian internet service providers, including Optus and iiNet. These deals meant that the data used to watch Netflix would not count towards a customer’s data limit.
Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings told shareholders: “In Australia, we recently sought to protect our new members from data caps by participating in ISP programs that, while common in Australia, effectively condone discrimination among video services – some capped, some not.
“Data caps inhibit internet innovation and are bad for consumers.
“We’re continuing to expand international. We’re learning country by country. We don’t get everything right upfront, but we fix that,” Hastings said.
The news comes on top of recent announcements that the US-based company would not charge its Australian customers GST.
An Optus spokesperson told Fairfax Media: “While Optus thinks unlimited data is the best option for anyone who wants to stream lots of entertainment content, we chose to un-meter Netflix content so that no matter how much data is included in their plan, all our broadband customers can watch as much Netflix as they want.”
The spokesperson confirmed that Optus would continue to offer unmetered access to Netflix for fixed broadband customers.
