Cogent CEO: Peering Breakdown Is Telia's Fault
If you read the comments and channel the outrage expressed by Internet users in Nordic and Baltic nations over the Internet peering breakdown between TeliaSonera and Cogent Communications, you’ll get the impression that the latter is the devil incarnate. Not true, says Cogent CEO and founder Dave Schaffer. He lays the blame squarely on Telia, which he says is in breach of contract.
We spoke with Schaffer this morning, as the problems started to spread. For example, Blip.tv reported on their blog:
Unfortunately blip is a customer of one of these ISPs (Cogent Communications). They’re not our only ISP, but they’re one of our primary ones. For this reason some of you — particularly those of you in the European low countries — may experience issues getting to blip at the moment.
After we broke the news about the Telia-Cogent spat, many of you emailed us to point out that Cogent constantly has problems with other Internet providers, and has become sort of a pariah in the wholesale bandwidth business. To that Schaffer says: They’re just jealous.
“The problem is simple, no one likes our low-price pricing policy except our customers, and most of the companies have been reluctant peers with us,” says Schaffer, who has guided the company through some tough times. Indeed, its Wal-Mart style approach to bandwidth has helped the company grow its revenues, but not its standing in the ISP business. “They hate our pricing.”
Getting specific about Telia, Schaffer says that the Nordic carrier is in breach of a contract with his company. The bone of contention is quite arcane. Cogent says that Telia was obligated to install certain peer connections with Cogent at specific locations, but hasn’t done so because it wants to degrade the experience for Cogent customers.
Schaffer says the problems have cropped up because Cogent has expanded into Nordic and Baltic countries in addition to building out its reach in Eastern Europe. Telia and Cogent now compete in these markets. “They are resentful of our expansion in these markets,” he says. Schaffer also says his company remains “willing and anxious for settlement-free peering” and that “Telia needs to meet their contractual obligations.”
In short, if you are a TeliaSonera customer in Nordic or Baltic nations, don’t expect a trouble-free Internet experience.
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Cogent may be the victim, but that doesn’t justify them filtering Telia’s routes they receive from Verio. Cogent isn’t tier 1, which means that if they don’t having a peering arrangement then they have to pay another network to transit the route. Cogent just doesn’t want to pay.
My only comment is that this is a childish action. If you are not able to negotiate an upgrade without de-peering you should be replaced – and that may be applicable for both parties. (But only one has de-peered).
The Internet is crucial for businesses, for governments and for the public. Actions like these are extremely dangerous for the future and may impose further government regulations. And if the reoccur that might be neccessary.
Erm… that’s an insightful comment from “Cogent pulled the trigger”…
You say that makes sense, but what do you mean? Is there some Swedish conspiracy that we’ve not heard about?
Breach of contract? Then leave it to the lawyers and courts to decide. Don’t penalize your customers because you’re incapable of acting responsibly in a business negotiation. If you cared about your customers you would allow access to Telia via alternate routes.
Cogent, we are waiting for you, come to Eastern Europe and finally shut this MAFIA STYLE BUSINESS OF TELIASONERA down!
What is happening with you has happened with tens if not hunderd’s of smaller ISPs here. Corruption and bribery is the main “sales force” for TeliaSonera.
“Friendship” with the cotrolling government bodies and politicians is why TeliaSonera’s criminal activities have not investigated yet.
The only question remains WHY the SWEDISH GOVERNMENT, the principal shareholder of this gang is tolerating to this MAFIA STYLE business??
TeliaSonera MUST STOP SPREADING CORRUPTION AND BRIBERY IN LITHUANIA!
Telia also has transit suppliers. Telia could choose to unblock transit paths to Cogent.
Ah, but in most reports it is Cogent that is filtering the routes from Telia. That would mean that it is Cogent who are dropping transit for clients who are paying Cogent. In my view, while Cogent’s costs may have changed for delivering the packets on behalf of clients, they remain obligated to deliver those packets. Even at a loss.
So this is was Renesys Data says:
- Approximately 9% of Cogent Communications’s downstream networks are transited via providers; see selected peers
. 1 NTT America, Inc. AS 2914
Telia has a peering with AS2914, Cogent is buying IP Transit from AS2914, everything would work but Cogent is not excepting Telia Routes via AS2914. So this is not very nice.
Cogents actions are shamefull. They are blocking all traffic from and to TeliaSonera networks. Cogent seems to own the internet, well they are just blackmailing.
Cogent has probably dug themself so far down that they can’t get up any longer.
Normally, third party routes would work just fine, Telia has plenty of those. But like the previous poster say, Cogent still pay for transit, and they probably cannot afford the extra data coming from those sources.
The funny thing is also, they have no real infrastructure in europe, they are simply leasing from other providers, something that costs more then it bring in.