Globe backs all inclusive IP peering among ISPs

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-led Globe Telecom, Inc. is calling for an all-inclusive Internet Protocol (IP) peering arrangement among major Internet service providers (ISP) to boost local Internet speed.

The call was made by Globe after rival Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) decided to link to the government–hosted Internet exchange facility, the Philippine Open Internet Exchange (PHOpenIX).

PLDT’s arrangement with PHOpenIX, however, does not require the dominant carrier to exchange traffic with other Internet service providers (ISPs) via the local Internet exchange.

Instead, the deal will only allow PLDT clients to peer directly with government websites through the PHOpenIX.

“From a technical perspective, localization is optimization. Any amount of traffic localized will contribute to access improvement and cost savings. However, given that around 80 percent of access content is foreign, there is minimal impact on Internet speed. What we need is an all-inclusive IP peering arrangement among all ISPs. Peering of PLDT clients with government sites won’t cut it,” Globe general counsel Froilan Castelo said.

While the remaining 20 percent is domestic traffic, up to 70 percent is routed outside the country before returning to the Philippines.

Instead of getting routed directly between origin and destination locally, traffic is routed outwards through others networks, incurring additional IP transit costs, before the data is routed back to its target destination, thus causing delay in data transmission and effectively slowing Internet connectivity, Castelo said.

Citing research by We Are Social (based on Internet Live Stats, Internet World Starts, government data, TenCent Worlddata, GSMA Intelligence, We Are Social Analysis), about 44 percent or 44.2 million of the Philippine population are active Internet users as of March 2015.

Meanwhile, about 42 percent or 42 million Filipinos are active social media users.

An all-inclusive IP peering arrangement among ISPs is being pushed as it would keep a substantial portion of local data traffic within the country and the elapsed transmission and reception time at a minimum.

Through such arrangement, access time to response time is shorter and the application access is faster which would result in better customer experience and fewer delays.

If implemented, such arrangement could also lead to increased foreign investments and job creation as multinational companies are encouraged to locate their websites, services and businesses in the country.

Castelo also said the facility would ease the country’s dependence on international cables and prevent a repeat of a 2008 incident which damaged major cables because of the Taiwan earthquake. The incident prevented Philippine customers from accessing local sites, government websites and local email.