MWEB CEO Rudi Jansen explains transit link cuts
MWEB last week started to sever its paid transit links through SAIX to providers like MTN Business and Vodacom, setting a precedent of either peering with them or having to re-route all their traffic to MWEB’s network internationally.
MWEB itself also has to re-route traffic from its subscribers to MTN Business or Vodacom’s networks internationally, and its international network is set to become even busier today. MWEB confirmed they had more than sufficient international capacity to cater for the change in traffic routing.
MWEB is set to cut its paid transit link with Telkom/SAIX today which is the final step in the company’s decision not to pay for any local transit any longer.
“We are planning to start the process today with SAIX,” said MWEB CEO Rudi Jansen. “It is a process that takes up to 12 hours and we would like to start early so that we can address issues that are not within our control as and when they arise.”
MWEB slated by competitors
This decision from MWEB has been slated by companies like Telkom, Vodacom Business and MTN Business, who are accusing the ISP of not playing open cards with other service providers and putting local Internet users at risk.
A few industry players have also accused MWEB of trying to disguise a basic financial decision as a consumer centric strategy to ‘free the web.’
Criticism has also been leveled at MWEB’s own peering policy, arguing that MWEB may not be willing to peer with any ISP as they previously indicated they are keen to do.
Other sticky issues include the fact that MWEB decided to implement the changes during business hours on a weekday, that they did not inform other players about their decision – rather opting to let it play out in the media – and even that MWEB is playing directly into Telkom’s hands with its new anti-transit cost decision.
MWEB responds
Jansen explained that when MWEB launched Uncapped ADSL it was part of a comprehensive plan to stimulate growth in the South African broadband environment, which in turn would grow MWEB and their subscriber base.
“Part of our plan was to create a culture of open peering in the market that would make the market more competitive and would also reduce the cost of doing business for everyone. Ultimately, peering is about improving the network and the end user experience,” said Jansen.
Jansen said that while there are financial benefits in severing their paid transit links and encouraging free and open peering, it is definitely not the overriding factor which drove their decision.
Jansen further explained that despite questions regarding its peering policy, they will peer with any ISP at no cost: “Fact is MWEB will peer with any ISP big or small at no cost. It is however each party’s responsibility to get to the peering point. We apply the same principle to more than 30 international peers in London and some 20 local peers.”
Many of the bigger telecoms players criticized MWEB for not informing them about their decision to cut their paid transit links, but Jansen said that they had ample warning.
“We also sent out written peering invitations to ISP’s on 30 April 2010 and there was extensive coverage in the media. Some responded, others did not,” said Jansen.
“We followed up with some of the larger players continuously. Generally the response was limited and where discussions started it was late in the process. Time came to cut the transit and you have seen the reactions. Would it have been any different if we gave all players more time?” asked Jansen.
Jansen added that they made the changes during business hours to ensure that they had a full complement of staff in the event of anything going wrong. He stressed that the changes were not of the kind which would significantly impact networks.
MWEB CEO Rudi Jansen explains transit link cuts << Comments and views
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