[1795] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Who Pays Whom How Much? A Murky Picture.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Gordon Cook)
Fri Dec 27 03:08:19 1991
To: com-priv@psi.com
Date: 26 Dec 91 23:22:49 EST (Thu)
From: cook@tmn.com (Gordon Cook)
<<MESSAGE from>> Gordon Cook 26-DEC-91 23:22
cook@tmn
Again what is unanswered in the Communications Week Dec 23rd article is
when the mid-level gets to sign the gateway or cooperative agreement. The
claim is made that all they are asked to sign is a coonectivity agreement
which apparently places them under no obligation except to receive
commercial traffic from ANS' customers. It even gives them something for
nothing -- participation in the infrastructure pool. I am having
difficulty believing that mid-levels can sign the connectivity agreement
(excuse typo above) and NEVER be asked to choose between the gateway or
cooperative agreements also outlined by ANS in its September documents. I
have asked privately about this and have so far received no clarification.
We read that a regional network that wants to send commercial traffic to
other regional networks over the ANS network has to pay ANS a fee. This
sounds to me like the gateway agreement. If I read that correctly such
agreements could be quite costly to the mid-levels. However I have yet to
see an example of exactly how much signing such an agreement would cost a
given mid-level.
The NSF has had to pay a more than 3 fold increase to ANS for the T-3
backbone. It now appears that the mid-levels - if they are to keep their
commercial customers - are to also pay ANS for access to the backbone.
Some people have told me that they doubt` that the mid-levels that give up
their commercial customers can survive.
Can anyone offer some enlightenment on the conomics of all this?
