Cheaper bandwidth: One big step needed
Over the last few months the push for free and open peering started to gain momentum, partly because of MWEB’s ‘Free the Web’ initiative.
MWEB recently called on all internet operators to enter into open bi-lateral peering relationships to allow the free exchange of internet traffic.
“Open peering is a very important part of creating an affordable, efficient internet market in South Africa. It will give users a better internet experience and break the stranglehold that a few large players currently exert over the rest of the market. This is the logical next step to liberating the internet market which we are strongly championing for,” said MWEB CEO Jansen.
According to Jansen peering can be compared to interconnection rates for voice minutes: “High charges make the model attractive for operators, but restrict competition and limit growth.”
At a recent Vodacom Business/Symantec media briefing in Midrand Ermano Quartero, Managing Executive at Vodacom Business, supported Jansen’s arguments saying that one of the major reasons why local hosting bandwidth costs are so high is the reluctance of larger telecoms operators to engage in free and open peering.
Numerous South African websites serving local visitors are hosted internationally purely because of the high cost of local bandwidth in the country. This in turn means that relatively expensive international bandwidth is used by broadband users to access ‘local’ content which is hosted internationally, adversely affecting broadband bandwidth costs.
It is clearly in everyone’s favour that content aimed at the local market should be hosted in South Africa. But it seems that the high local transit costs – needed to carry traffic from one network to another in the absence of open peering – is the major factor pushing up local hosting bandwidth fees.
Telkom, MTN Business and Internet Solutions have often been singled out as companies which are reluctant to freely peer with smaller players, partly because they generate a fair amount of revenue through selling transmission capacity.
Pressure from the market may however start to change matters.
MultiChoice and MWEB recently announced that their enhanced DSTV on Demand Online service will only be available through ISPs which openly peer with MWEB, a tactic which may pay dividends in the long run.
Vodacom Business, which says it fully supports free and open peering along with MWEB, is likely to be one of the first ISPs to peer with MWEB and give their subscribers access to the DSTV on Demand content.
Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys also recently said that he is keen to see Vodacom peer at the Internet Service Providers’ Association’s (ISPA) two Internet exchange points – the Johannesburg Internet exchange (JINX) and Cape Town Internet Exchange (CINX).
It will not be easy to convince all the larger telecoms players in South Africa to agree to free and open peering, but the recent Mobile Termination Rate reductions showed that pressure from the media, industry and consumers can jolt politicians into action to drive initiatives that will ultimately benefit the country.
Open peering and bandwidth pricing << discussion
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