Following the rule any friend of my enemy is an enemy of mine, or something like that, Level 3 Communications (Nasdaq: LVLT) has added AT&T (NYSE: T) to its Internet video traffic fight because AT&T sided with Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA).
Level 3, for the uninitiated, is angry with Comcast because the MSO wants more money to carry an increasing load of video-heavy Level 3 traffic, a move Level 3 has decried as an Internet "toll booth." Comcast says it's just a peering arrangement and AT&T, in a blog, said that Level 3 is hardly Caesar's wife since it disconnected Cogent Communications (Nasdaq: CCOI) in 2005 after it started sending too much traffic across the Level 3 network.
Now Level 3 has two enemies and a standing answer: the problem isn't about traffic peering, it's about "growing customer demand for bandwidth to access the Visual Internet" (and there's a phrase that could be trouble in coming months).
For more:
- see this story
Related articles:
Level 3: Comcast fight not about traffic peering
Level 3 objects to Comcast broadband access 'toll booth'
FCC could take on Comcast-Level 3 dispute, but NCTA chief says don't bother