PLDT urged to ensure fair peering scheme to address slow Net speed

TALKS between rivals Globe Telecom and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) to ease Internet traffic are already underway on the back of numerous complaints from subscribers and general pressure from lawmakers.

Globe confirmed on Thursday an earlier statement from PLDT that both were already working on an Internet Protocol (IP) peering scheme, a process by which the two telecom giants would connect and exchange traffic.

Globe said this was a positive development, but said PLDT’s proposal “will prevent Globe customers from accessing content and applications hosted by PLDT data centers, which includes ePLDT, Vitro, Sun, Smart.”

“We are hoping any bilateral arrangement with PLDT would effectively reduce latency of local intent and improve Internet speed. As is, PLDT’s proposed peering agreement won’t be effective in improving the country’s Internet speed,” Globe chief operating officer Gil Genio said in the statement.

“Having an agreement on IP peering is one thing and monitoring to make sure all websites, content and applications are in fact visible to us is another thing and should be a constant process,” he said.

Globe said that an all-inclusive IP peering arrangement among major Internet service providers in the country is still needed to boost local Internet speed. Globe took note of PLDT’s recent decision to host a local IP peering exchange, Philippine Open Internet Exchange (PHOpenIX).

Globe noted 20 percent of Internet traffic is local, meaning domestic traffic originates in the Philippines and terminates in the Philippines.

However, given the current peering limitations, up to 70 percent of this local traffic has to be routed outside the country, such as in Asia, US and Europe, before returning to the Philippines.

When traffic is routed outwards, it incurs additional IP transit costs aside from causing delay in data transmission and latency in downloading sites.

Research released by We Are Social (based on Internet Live Stats, Internet World Starts, government data, TenCent Worlddata, GSMA Intelligence, We Are Social Analysis) showed about 44 percent or 44.2 million of the Philippine population are active Internet users as of March 2015. The number represents an 18 percent growth from January 2014.

On the other hand, about 42 percent or 42 million are active social media users. This number represents a 24 percent growth from January 2014.