London - U.K. ISP Virgin Media plans to begin throttling its customers' BitTorrent file-sharing traffic next year, CEO Neil Berkett told The Register.

The company already temporarily restricts bandwidth of its heaviest downloaders at peak traffic times, but does not differentiate between specific uses or applications.

Berkett said that the new restrictions will be enacted by mid-2009.

"Broadband has become integral to delivering home entertainment services and with data consumption growing rapidly, we are exploring new ways to enhance our product offering. Part of this involves intelligent monitoring and understanding the way people use our broadband service," a Virgin Media spokesperson later confirmed for The Register.

Several ISPs in the U.S., most notably Comcast, experimented with similar throttling of BitTorrent traffic, but the FCC found such actions to be illegal and ordered the practice discontinued.

The Register noted that Virgin Media's plan comes in contrast to the company's earlier support for the concept of net neutrality.

Related Links:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/16/virgin_bittorrent

http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/12/report-virgin-m.html

http://www.virginmedia.com