BITAG Releases Interconnection Primer

The technical working group Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG), the multistakeholder group focused on network management practices, has released its review of a hot-button issue in Washington: interconnection and peering.

The study provides a "detailed review on how networks connect, the development and changes in connection models, motivations for connection, how networks manage traffic between each other and some of the challenges that arise as networks evolve."

"In most cases, two parties seeking to interconnect are able to come to terms," says the report. "In some cases after an agreement is reached, however, traffic volumes or other factors may change, which in rare cases may lead to 'de-‐peering' events if the changes are significant enough. More commonly, such changes lead to a renegotiation of the manner or type of interconnection agreement between the two parties. Although peering disputes over traffic imbalances, and other reasons, are not new, peering disputes in the U.S. have been increasingly publicized in recent years."

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.