Net Neutrality Rejected In China As Tudou.com Inks Internet Video Deal

Proving that fairness ends at the Great Firewall, Chinese video website Tudou.com announced that it has reached agreement with China Telecom to increase the video upload speed on Tudou.com for users in Shanghai.

According to local media reports, Tudou.com said with the cooperation, China Telecom’s fiber network users in Shanghai will enjoy about 4 Mb/S video upload speed on Tudou.com, which is reportedly four to eight times faster than other video websites in China. In the future, the cooperation will be expanded to the nationwide market of the two parties.

According to the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, a “network’s only job is to move data — not choose which data to privilege with higher-quality service.” By providing preferential treatment to Tudou.com, China Telecom potentially stifles business competition and creates an uneven consumer environment. Net Neutrality is a concept that “guarantees a level playing field for all websites and Internet technologies”, so this online video deal potentially creates an unfair situation in Shanghai.

At the beginning of September 2011, China Telecom Shanghai branch officially launched a broadband speed increase program. Under this program, China Telecom’s existing fiber network users in Shanghai can enjoy a free-of-charge speed increase to between 10M and 30M; while ADSL users who want to join the fiber network can enjoy a free-of-charge speed increase to above 4M. By the end of 2011, there will be 4.5 million fiber network users in Shanghai.