Spat between two Internet providers has disrupted Web traffic; Nordic operator sees solution this week.
TeliaSonera Wednesday said Cogent Communications Group gave it no warning before it ended the peering agreement allowing Web traffic to move directly between the two companies’ networks.  

“We were a little bit surprised when Cogent de-peered with us, they didn’t tell us beforehand,” said Malin Frenning, president of TeliaSonera International Carrier.

“This is an attempt to push us around a little bit,” she commented.

According to Frenning, on 13 March Cogent ended the peering agreement between it and TeliaSonera. This effectively partitioned a section of the Internet because customers of each provider have since been unable to directly connect with one another.

Cogent CEO David Schaeffer last week accused TeliaSonera of breaching the terms of their peering agreement by not exchanging traffic in certain locations and refusing to upgrade saturated connections.

In a report from the Associated Press, Schaeffer said that Cogent traffic was being forced to take long detours across the Atlantic and back again.

TeliaSonera Wednesday denied it had disrupted the flow of Cogent’s Internet traffic.

“We do not agree with Cogent’s portrayal of the event…[David Schaeffer] said we have disturbed Cogent’s Web traffic. That’s not true,” said Frenning.

She also said that contrary to Schaeffer’s assertion, the Swedish carrier is in the process of upgrading the capacity of its network to better cope with rising traffic.

Schaeffer also alleged last week that TeliaSonera felt threatened by Cogent’s recent Nordic growth.

“We’ve become much more aggressive as we have expanded our network about four months ago in Norway and Finland,” he told the AP.

However, Frenning said that Cogent’s recent Nordic expansion has nothing to do with the peering issue.

“Cogent said we see them as a threat. On the contrary we meet different needs of different market groups. Besides, we have other competitors in the U.S. that we have good peering relationships with,” she said.

Frenning said that TeliaSonera sent a revised peering proposal to Cogent last week, but has had no response.

However, Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer told Total Telecom that while he had received a proposal from TeliaSonera through its sales channel, Cogent has not received a revised peering agreement.

“There is already a [peering] contract in place, but TeliaSonera are unwilling to honour that,” he said.

Schaeffer said that Cogent is hopeful of finding a solution to the issue.

“We remain committed to peering with TeliaSonera,” he said.

In the meantime TeliaSonera said it is hoping to resolve the issue this week, one way or another.

“We have very good relationships with our other peering partners and we are working to find a long term solution both with and without Cogent,” said Frenning.

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