Cogent Blames Telia for Peering Spat

Cogent CEO Dave Schaffer is blaming Telia for the peering dispute, which has left thousands of customers of the two companies unable to access sites on the other network. Schaffer spoke to Om Malik and says Telia is in breach of their peering agreement, and appears unconcerned that Cogent is once again taking heat in a peering dispute:

Schaffer says Telia resents Cogent's expansion into its core markets. While geography is at issue in the dispute, equipment might be in the mix, too.

The reference to Telia seeking to "degrade the experience for Cogent customers" suggests that the capacity of peering connections might be an issue. Early last year we wrote about reports that some major ISPs are sticking with slower peering connections, even though the growing volume of video traffic could create periodic capacity challenges. Some providers are reluctant to pay for 10 gigabit Ethernet ports to exchange a higher volume of traffic. Here's what we wrote at the time:

See our earlier coverage of the peering dispute and impact on Cogent and Telia's customers.