Cogent sues Deutsche Telekom over congested interconnection ports

Cogent Communications is suing Deutsche Telekom, claiming that DT violated the terms of its contract with the Internet transit provider. Filed in US federal court in Virginia, Cogent claims that DT has allegedly congested the Internet connections Cogent's content provider customers use to deliver services to their customers in Germany.

Cogent wants the court to force DT to increase its capacity at interconnection points to alleviate the congestion, as well as pay damages. "Deutsche Telekom has interfered with the free flow of internet traffic between Cogent customers and Deutsche Telekom customers by refusing to increase the capacity of the interconnection ports that allow the exchange of traffic," said Robert Beury, Cogent's chief legal officer. "The congestion results in degraded service to customers of both companies. Deutsche Telekom is using its market power as the dominant provider of residential Internet service in Germany in an attempt to extract a toll, directly or indirectly, from companies in the US that provide internet services that Deutsche Telekom's customers want to use."