On Aug 17, 2004, at 1:55 PM, William B. Norton wrote:
The Cost of Internet Transit in.. Commit AU SG JP HK USA 1 Mbps $720 $625 $490 $185 $125 10 Mbps $410 $350 $150 $100 $80 100 Mbps $325 $210 $110 $80 $45 1000 Mbps $305 $115 $50 $50 $30
Someone mentioned that this was comparing apples to oranges. Indeed it is, <stuff deleted>
I would disagree that these are apples and oranges comparisons - these are real prices (normalized to USD) for transit that someone in the country would pay to access the big 'I' Internet. The Peering Coordinators I spoke with that have expanded into these markets did point out that each Peering Ecosystem differs - I think I documented about 10 differences in the Asia Pacific Peering Guidebook - but, ultimately, they will need to buy transit in that market. So these numbers are useful for budgeting for network expansion into Asia.
Bill, as the person who said you were comparing apples & oranges, I'm not sure I understand your disagreement. Are you saying that if something costs more in Singapore or Australia than the US, then the companies selling that product here in the US for less must be selling below cost? Things are not the same everywhere. Politics, infrastructure, labor, taxes, and a myriad of other factors make it not very useful to say "US is $30, AU is $300" and expect to draw any meaningful conclusion by the comparison - except, of course, that AU transit is more expensive than US transit.
I would also share that the local loop prices in these other markets vary widely ; an OC-3 local loop in Singapore may be twice the cost of a distance insensitive OC-3 local loop in Hong Kong. To that end, the business cases for peering will be quite different.
Well, then I would submit, by your logic above, that the people in HK are selling OC3s at an "unhealthy" price, and they are "greasing the skids to financial ruin for this industry". How else could those in HK sell for 1/2 the price of those in SK? Apples-to-apples.... -- TTFN, patrick