|
North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: Current street prices for US Internet Transit
> Those are apples & oranges. You cannot compare bandwidth in countries > without the same fiber infrastructure as the US ( and with government > owned PTTs controlling almost all access to the US market. Bang on! U.S. prices reflect a mostly complete disintermediation of the telecom industry in that the provider who sells you transit probably also owns the fiber in the ground and is able to specify the entire suite of technology and operations between the glass strands and IP transit. So rather than reflecting slim margins, perhaps the prices reflect sensible cost structures. Let's not forget that it was only about ten years ago that telcos were able to get away with selling telecom services in which 75% or more of their cost base was in billing systems and overhead. > Anyway, I suspect "more turbulence in the industry" for the next few > millennia, no matter where prices are. :-) It will take at least a generation before the people who once experienced grossly overinflated margins are all gone and people stop trying to recreate the golden age of telecom again. Think highways and gas pipelines and electrical grids. IP transit networks are a utility and they should be cheap, ubiquitous and reliable. Anyone who wants to get rich in this business should be looking at value added services and not transit. It won't be long before IP transit is a real commodity and everyone will have the same cost structure and prices across the board. There will be margin for well-run IP transit utilities but no more boom times. --Michael Dillon
|