The delay at MAE-East is because some larger providers have just 1 DS3 connection when they need more. The gigaswitch can do almost 1000 times what it is doing now. The OC-3s that are connecting the gigaswitches together also have plenty of room on them.
Nathan Stratton CEO, NetRail, Inc. Tracking the future today!
It's possible that some providers may not have the time or resources to increase their bandwidth to MAE-East; also, it's possible that some of them may decide not to, choosing instead private interconnects or other exchange points. The point being made was that MAE-East is not necessarily the best place to be for robustness and performance; the point stands even though, as you assert, MAE-East is (still) the largest public exchange point in the known multiverse. Avi