Tactic 23. Defensive Tactic – Do Not Peer in Your Home Market
Now we move on to the tactics used to NOT peer.
These next few tactics are different – they are executed by the larger peers (typically the Tier 1 ISPs) to avoid peering with anyone else in their Internet Region.
Korea Telecom (KT) protects its home market Tier 1 advantage by not peering in its home country. In fact, to peer with Korea Telecom, peers must meet the company in a different country (Figure 11-38).
Figure 11-38. Peering only outside the home market is a common defensive maneuver.
Notes from the field.
Protecting Home Turf
As just described, peering with KT was generally allowed only outside of Korea. As John Milburn puts it, “The desire to protect one’s home market dwarfs any benefits that peering might provide.”