Localizing Internet infrastructure: Cooperative peering in Latin America

Abstract

This paper offers an overview of the changes in the Internet interconnection regime in the past decade and their key implications for the development of Internet infrastructure in developing regions based on the Latin American experience. The main argument presented is that changes in market conditions and Internet traffic patterns over the past decade have favored the search for new interconnection arrangements between actors located at the outer edges of the traditional Internet topology. Driven by the need to control operating costs and optimize content delivery to end-users, network operators in Latin America (and elsewhere in developing regions) are increasingly experimenting with cooperative peering arrangements to meet interconnection needs. The evidence suggests that these new arrangements are resulting in multiple benefits to local Internet ecosystems, among them reduced transit costs, greater network redundancy, improved service quality, new infrastructure investments and better technical coordination among operators.