Cogent and Orange France fight over interconnection issues

Cogent Communications (Nasdaq: CCOI) is fighting a new battle with incumbent service provider France Telecom (Orange) (NYSE: FTE) for refusing to let the low-cost Ethernet service provider connect to its network in France.

Dave Schaeffer, Cogent's founder and CEO, said in the French newspaper La Tribune that Orange France is being stubborn despite Cogent's repeatedly asking to connect to its network in various sites throughout the country.

"The operator wants Cogent to pay to reach its customers, which is not normal," he said. "It is taking advantage of its dominant position, which is unfair and violates competition rules."

This is not the first time Cogent and France Telecom have come to blows. In January, France Telecom filed a lawsuit against Cogent and video portal provider Megaupload because the duo accused the incumbent carrier of throttling access to Megaupload over the Cogent network to give an advantage to France Telecom's long-haul carrier division Open Transit.

Cogent has asked Arcep, France's telecoms regulator, to either investigate the issue or levy a fine on the incumbent service provider.

For more:
- Telecompaper has this article

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