Globe Telecom urges rival
network, PLDT, to connect to Philippine Open Internet Exchange (PHOpenIX), the
only internet exchange facility operated by a neutral organization, in this
case, the government.
An internet exchange, such
as the PHOpenIX, which is operated by the Department of Science and
Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute, allows the exchanges of
Internet traffic among internet and data service providers.
“We welcome PLDT’s latest
statement supporting IP peering. In so doing, PLDT should then connect to the
government’s only internet exchange or at least establish direct peering with
Globe Telecom. Nothing less would suffice to validate its claim of support for
an effective and reliable IP peering among various ISPs in the country,” said
Francisco “Cocoy” Claravall, Vice President for Consumer Broadband Products.
He pointed out that Globe
Telecom currently has a 10Gbps port with Vitro Internet Exchange (VIX), which
is hosted by PLDT. However, Globe does not have any Internet traffic to any
PLDT subscribers through VIX but only with other ISPs. “We are open anytime to
peer with PLDT, as this will enhance both our customers’ web experience”,
Claravall said.
Following 3 years of opposing
the National Telecommunication’s proposed mandatory IP peering policy, PLDT
recently said it now supports regulator initiatives to implement IP peering,
but emphasized such arrangements must be voluntary, in line with generally
accepted international practice.
“This is certainly good news to all of us. We
should all work together to improve the Internet experience of all Filipinos”,
Claravall said. He added, “However, it is important to distinguish IP transit
vs. peering. IP transit is when an ISP (usually a Tier 2 ISP) uses another ISP
(usually a Tier 1 ISP such as PLDT or Globe) to access the rest of the Internet
via a transit arrangement and therefore the former uses the resources of the
Tier 1 ISP to allow its uses to access the rest of the Internet. That is not
our intent when we push for IP peering,” he said.
Under an IP peering
arrangement, the internet traffic is freely exchanged between the Tier 1 ISP
and each ISP provides the other partner with access to its own customers and
vice versa but not to the entire Internet.
Contrary to PLDT’s
opposition to IP peering in the past, Globe Telecom strongly supports the NTC’s
position that a mandatory IP peering among carriers should be put in place to
improve internet services in the country.
Claravall emphasized that an effective and reliable IP peering policy
would greatly improve internet speeds in the country as it would give local
ISPs like Globe a direct route to access local content for faster data
interchange. According to him, around 15% to 30% of all internet traffic in the
Philippines is domestic. This means that
domestic traffic originates in the Philippines and terminates in the
Philippines. The origin and destination may be as far away as across the
country or as close as across the street from each other.
However, instead of
remaining local, traffic is being routed externally, such as in Hong Kong and
the U.S., before returning to the Philippines. This means that instead of
getting routed directly between origin and destination, data is routed outwards
through large ISPs that sell transit before the data is routed back to its
target destination, thus causing delay in data transmission and effectively
slowing internet connectivity. Thus, a direct route among local ISPs through a
mandatory IP peering would greatly improve throughput and latency performance
of ISPs, enhance bandwidth utilization and provide faster internet speeds.
At a recent joint hearing
of the Senate committees on trade and public services, the NTC cited the lack
of IP peering among local ISPs as one of factors that contribute to slower
internet speeds in the country. The regulatory body pointed out that in the
case of Singapore and South Korea, for instance, internet content are mostly
generated internally, as a result of an effective IP peering policy, which in
turn enhances internet speed.
