Netflix to reduce streaming bitrate in South Africa for 30 days

Netflix will reduce the bandwidth it uses to serve customers in South Africa and the rest of Africa for the next 30 days in an effort to alleviate pressure on network infrastructure during the Covid-19 crisis.

The streaming media giant said in a statement that it will reduce the “streaming bitrate” across markets in Africa by 25% until the end of April.

Netflix has implemented similar measures in other countries around the world. It assured customers that the decision will not have an impact on streaming quality.

Ken Florance, vice-president of content delivery, at Netflix said: “Given the crisis, we’ve developed a way to reduce Netflix’s traffic on telecommunications networks by 25% while also maintaining the quality of our service.”

Consumers should continue to get the quality that comes with their plan — whether it’s ultra high definition, high definition or standard definition, Florance said.

“We believe that this will provide significant relief to congested networks.”  — (c) 2020 NewsCentral Media