Rogers, one of Canada’s largest Internet providers, has been slowing down BitTorrent traffic since 2005.
Recent data revealed that the ISP is throttling roughly three-quarter of all BitTorrent traffic on its network.
All this time the company has defended itself by arguing that they have to “manage” BitTorrent traffic to guarantee good connectivity for all other users, but this is about to change.
In a letter to the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) the ISP says that it will phase out all throttling efforts in 2012.
According to the company, BitTorrent throttling will soon be a thing of the past.
“We have been reviewing our traffic shaping policy for several months. New technologies and ongoing investments in network capacity will allow Rogers to begin phasing out that policy starting in March 2012.”
” These changes will be introduced to half of Rogers existing Internet customers by June 2012 and to its remaining customers by December 2012,” Rogers writes.
OpenMedia.ca, one of the groups that is advocating for an open and neutral Internet in Canada, is welcomed Rogers’ decision.
“We are extremely pleased that Rogers was forced to stop restricting access to online services,” OpenMedia.ca Executive Director Steve Anderson says.
“We commend the CRTC for moving on this, and hope that this serves as a strong reminder to all ISPs that Canadians will stand up for the open Internet when pushed.”
