Peering Costs and Fees
Ali Nikkhah, Scott Jordan

TL;DR
This paper analyzes the economic impacts of paid peering on broadband prices, consumer surplus, and network costs, revealing optimal interconnection points and conditions affecting peering agreements.
Contribution
It introduces a comprehensive model linking paid peering fees, consumer benefits, and network costs, providing new insights into peering requirements and their economic implications.
Findings
Paid peering fees lower premium plan prices and raise video streaming costs.
Consumer surplus varies with peering fees, depending on incremental ISP costs.
Optimal interconnection points are 6 to 8, with local CDN delivery influencing peering incentives.
Abstract
Internet users have suffered collateral damage in tussles over paid peering between large ISPs and large content providers. In order to qualify for settlement-free peering, large Internet Service Providers (ISPs) require that peers meet certain requirements. However, the academic literature has not yet shown the relationship between these settlement-free peering requirements and the value to each interconnecting network. We first consider the effect of paid peering on broadband prices. We adopt a two-sided market model in which an ISP maximizes profit by setting broadband prices and a paid peering price. Our result shows that paid peering fees reduce the premium plan price, and increase the video streaming price and the total price for premium tier customers who subscribe to video streaming services. We next consider the effect of paid peering on consumer surplus. We find that…
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Taxonomy
TopicsPeer-to-Peer Network Technologies
