Fixed-line operator Telkom has come out swinging against MWeb's unilateral decision to cut its transit links to local operators.
It says the consumer Internet service provider (ISP) is attempting to portion off the Internet at the expense of the South African Internet user.
This follows an announcement by MWeb last week that it would no longer pay a cent for local transit links and that any local ISP wanting to connect with them would have to peer with them directly.
Peering is the arrangement of traffic exchange between ISPs. Larger ISPs with their own backbone networks agree to allow traffic from other large ISPs in exchange for traffic on their backbones.
Each major ISP generally develops a peering policy that states the terms and conditions under which it will peer with other networks for various types of traffic. MWeb says its decision will aid competition in the industry and will lower the cost of the Internet for the consumer.
MWeb has been advocating for open peering policies for some time now. Last week, the company severed its paid peering through Telkom's wholesale Internet access provider, SAIX, to providers like MTN Business and Vodacom. This week, MWeb cut its peering link to Telkom/SAIX; opting rather to re-route local traffic through international networks.
Essentially, MWeb now only connects with local operators that agree to an open peering policy. But Telkom argues it will not consider open peering.
Telkom backlash
Telkom has justified its position, saying it does not consider its peering costs to be unreasonable.
“Telkom has an internationally benchmarked peering policy. The policy follows best practice principles that are applied by network providers in fully competitive, commercially functional and efficient Internet markets globally. The policy requirements are applied uniformly,” states the operator.
Telkom notes that MWeb's invitation to peer was considered against these principles, as would any request for peering with Telkom.
“Peering, however, is not meant to amount to free provisioning of network infrastructure by one party to another, since someone has to cover the capital expenditure of the network,” states the company.
Telkom says it wishes to engage in alternate content distribution mechanisms with mutual benefits to the MWeb and Telkom subscriber bases. MWeb has previously been informed accordingly, continues Telkom.
World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says MWeb is within its rights, but possibly not doing the right thing at this stage in the Internet evolution. “Internet services are in a state of rapid evolution right now, and the issues facing MWeb face other ISPs too,” he explains.
“MWeb is deciding not to exchange traffic directly with Telkom's Internet network, namely AS5713. As a result, MWeb is portioning the Internet and disrupting the flow of traffic between MWeb and Telkom customers,” argues Telkom.
“While this has a negative impact on some users of the Internet, this effect will be the result of MWeb's decision and is unfortunately beyond Telkom's control.”
MWeb, however, guaranteed subscribers that they will not “black hole” any local ISP's traffic. “We will simply be rerouting traffic away from congested and very expensive local transit links to our international bandwidth, which is significantly cheaper and not congested,” explains MWeb ISP CEO Derek Hershaw. This, however, will likely result in higher latency levels.
“Being the largest consumer ISP in the country, its members are collectively among the greatest beneficiaries of peering, so it may well slow down part of the online experience for its own subscribers,” notes Goldstuck.
“Generally, though, few will notice a direct impact, as international connectivity is continually improving, and the latency caused by international routing is becoming less of a major issue,” he concludes.
Related story:
Telkom's freeze costs MWeb
Share
