Globe urges PLDT to allow exchange of traffic among ISPs

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. yesterday urged dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) to connect to the government hosted Internet exchange facility to boost Internet speed in the country.

Francisco Claravall, vice president for Consumer Broadband Products of Globe, said PLDT should connect to Philippine Open Internet Exchange (PHOpenIX) operated by the Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute to allow the exchanges of Internet traffic among Internet service providers (ISPs).

“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,” Claravall said

He pointed out that Globe currently has a 10Gbps port with PLDT’s Vitro Internet Exchange (VIX) but 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.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has been pushing for a mandatory Internet protocol (IP) peering policy over the past three years.

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 percent to 30 percent of all Internet traffic originates and terminates in the Philippines. However, instead of remaining local, traffic is being routed externally to Hong Kong and the US 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,” he said.

For his part, PLDT Group spokesman Ramon Isberto reiterated that PLDT is amenable to the direct interconnection among local ISPs but only through bilateral commercial agreements.

“We maintain that the most equitable and efficient way of establishing peering arrangements is through bilateral commercial agreements between the concerned parties.  Such agreements would require both parties to undertake the needed technical and commercial measures to ensure the quality and viability of Internet services,” Isberto said.

He pointed out that the PLDT Group continues to have reservations regarding the security and adequacy of the technical arrangements of proposed mandatory peering through the facilities of the PHOpenIX.

Isberto also belied claims made by Globe that domestic peering is the solution to complaints of slow Internet speeds is erroneous.

He cited that South Korean Internet users largely access content written in the South Korean language as well as for internet users in other major Asian markets like China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.

“That is principally why Internet traffic in these countries are largely domestic. In the case of the Philippines, we are fluent in English and are thus oriented towards overseas Internet content,” he said.

As a result, he explained that up to 90 percent of Internet traffic in the Philippines is content sourced from overseas particularly the US.

“Because of that, in the case of the Philippines, domestic peering will not address complaints of slow Internet speed,” he clarified.