BPI rebuts ISPs cost claims

18:21 | Tuesday January 19, 2010

The obligations on ISPs and rights holders to identify and notify copyright infringers will give rise to some costs. And how these should be apportioned between the two groups will form a major part of the discussion of the Bill, currently being debated in the House of Lords.

ISPs have long complained the costs will be disproportionate. They have also argued they should not be asked to bear them claiming additional expense will significantly add to the cost of services available to their customers.

However, a new report – commissioned by the BPI - from specialist technical consultancy Sweet Consulting shows that total costs incurred by ISPs in the first year under the new system could be as low as £13.85m. And costs will drop considerably in future years with Sweet estimating operating expenditure will be just shy of £9m in the second year and £3.45m in year three.

This final figure equates to an additional 24p per individual ISP subscriber.

The Creative Coalition Campaign, which includes the BPI as a member, has arrived at similar figures. It commissioned NERA Economic Consulting to outline the costs to ISPs if the proposed legislation is passed. NERA put the average annual cost to ISPs of implementing the notification system at just £8.5m.