By Sara Hameed
UNIVERSITY CITY, SHARJAH – YouTube has observed telecommunication companies reduce speed of video playback – a process known as “data throttling” – if there is too much traffic, said a keynote speaker during the virtual Third AUS Regional Students’ Conference on Mathematics on April 10.
Dr. Parsa Bakhtary, senior product analyst at YouTube, said common data science problems require special training. He noted mobile data is expensive, and YouTube possesses a large share of data consumption for network operators.
According to him, in order for carriers to offer “unlimited video streaming,” they must slow down connection speed to make it fair for all users. This is done through data throttling.
Bakhtary explained YouTube tracks media byte transfer rate. Thus, it is able to compute the speed at which users receive data.
He said one of the major questions when he first joined YouTube, was to consider how they can detect data throttling. He then revealed YouTube uses an automated system to find which telecommunication company is data throttling once a month.
As a result, he said YouTube can negotiate with that particular network operator, and offer them sufficient data plans. This process is ultimately carried out to reduce data costs, and increase the flow of people using the Internet.
