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Issues with the Local Internet Exchange Proposal in the Philippines

TMCnews Featured Article


August 25, 2011

Issues with the Local Internet Exchange Proposal in the Philippines

By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor


From the outsourcing capital of Manila comes news of the NTC and Globe proposal for a local Internet exchange, “with PLDT (News - Alert) rejecting the said proposal,” according to industry journal MB.com.ph.


PLDT is the Philippines’ largest telecommunications company. As MB asks rather plaintively, “What is the big deal that the major telcos can't agree on this particular proposal?”

In June TMCnet reported that the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company was unlikely to meet its deadline to get regulatory approval for the acquisition of Sun Cellular after the National Telecommunications Commission extended the hearing at the instance of second-ranked Globe Telecom (News - Alert).

In the Philippines, ISPs connect subscribers to the Internet via a link going to where most of it is hosted, the U.S., as MB explains. The article notes that with multiple ISPs in play locally, each one has its own connection to America.

So what’s the problem? Evidently, the way MB explains it, “when one user from one local ISP starts accessing data offered by another user from another local ISP, Internet traffic will travel from the first ISP to the US, back to the gateway of the other ISP before finally connecting to the host.”

In other words, users across the street from each other in Manila will need to meet up in the U.S. instead of just connecting locally. The proposal is to establish an Internet exchange so all local ISPs can send traffic within the country. The NTC and Globe proposes one exchange facility hosted by the Department of Science and Technology's Advanced Science and Technology Institute.

Makes sense on a certain level. But as MB says, despite all the obvious advantages, some issues need addressing, such as how much Internet traffic is local? If you figure YouTube (News - Alert), Facebook, Twitter, Google, et al are hosted in America, what’s left? One can see how such services as local videoconferencing, for example, would be improved, but how much other demand is there?

And as MB asks, “why only one internet exchange? Can't the country have at least two, for redundancy?” Not a bad suggestion.

And should traffic routing on the Internet exchange be restricted only to local traffic? Should traffic bound to the U.S. from one ISP be allowed to use the gateway of the other ISP?

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David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.

Edited by Carrie Schmelkin







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