TeliaSonera, Cogent broker peering dealConnectivity restored between networks but exact details of deal confidential.
TeliaSonera and Cogent Monday confirmed they have restored connectivity between their networks after reaching a deal on a new peering agreement.
“We are very pleased to have a new agreement in place,” said Malin Frenning, president and CEO of TeliaSonera International Carrier.
“The situation that gave rise to the lack of connectivity has been resolved and the respective networks have resumed the exchange of IP traffic,” said a statement from the Swedish carrier.
Trouble for Cogent’s and TeliaSonera’s Internet customers began on March 13 when the peering agreement which enabled Web traffic to flow between the companies’ networks was ended by Cogent.
At first content was being routed indirectly via TeliaSonera’s transiting agreement with Verizon, but then that deal came to an end, effectively partitioning the Internet for TeliaSonera and Cogent customers.
Still, Frenning said that the problem has caused minimal disruption to TeliaSonera’s customers.
“We have been working 24 hours a day with our customers since it happened to resolve any issues, but it hasn’t caused too much disturbance,” she said.
Cogent initially blamed TeliaSonera for allegedly breaching the terms of their peering agreement, claiming the Swedish carrier was wary of Cogent’s recent expansion into the Nordics.
“It is my belief that they feel threatened by our growth in these markets,” Dave Schaeffer, CEO of Cogent told Total Telecom recently.
TeliaSonera denied this allegation, and instead accused the U.S. carrier of bullying tactics.
“We have other competitors in the U.S. that we have good peering relationships with,” commented Frenning, last week.
“This is an attempt to push us around a little bit,” she added.
Yet, by Friday connectivity between the two networks had bee restored when both companies signed a new peering agreement.
“The terms of the [new] agreement were satisfactory to both parties,” said Jeff Henrikson director of marketing and communications at Cogent.
However, both Cogent and TeliaSonera have refused to comment on the details of the new agreement and how they arrived at it.
“This is something confidential between us and Cogent,” said Frenning.
TeliaSonera had been exploring other ways to re-establish connectivity to Cogent’s network in the event that a new peering agreement wouldn’t be reached.
“During the whole process we have been working on alternative solutions with other parties, but this has now stopped since we have made this new agreement,” said Frenning.
