Bandwidth Caps Hurting Netflix in Canada

The online entertainment service's underwhelming growth north of the border can be linked to expensive bandwidth surcharges.

Analysts are pinning Netflix's slow growth in Canada on bandwidth caps enforced by internet service providers, as they make the normally low-cost streaming entertainment service more expensive. While no one mentioned the Canadian version of Netflix's relative dearth of good films and television series as a possible reason why growth was cut in half during Netflix's last quarter, the punitive costs per gigabyte levied by Bell, Rogers, and other ISPs is likely the main reason why the bandwidth-heavy service has stumbled. Netflix recently introduced lower-quality streams for Canadians, to reduce the strain on users' monthly bandwidth allotment.