GTT, AT&T sign IP network interconnection agreement

AT&T (NYSE: T) and GTT Communications have signed a long-term interconnection for their IP networks, marking the latest agreement the telco has made with a competitive carrier in the wake of the new net neutrality rules.

The service providers said that the additional capacity and new interconnection locations between the networks that the agreement enables will provide a better experience for users.

Rick Calder, GTT president and CEO, said in a release that the new agreement will provide its growing base of domestic and international carrier and business customers with "additional capacity" and that it will "continue to work with AT&T to expand a secure and resilient interconnection environment so our clients can depend on the reliability and performance of GTT's high-capacity network."

Roman Pacewicz, senior vice president of marketing and global strategy for AT&T Business Solutions, said that by establishing these new interconnection agreements, "customers can continue to rely on AT&T to meet their networking needs."

Establishing an interconnection agreement with AT&T makes sense for GTT. While the service provider has been building out its own national and international network organically and through acquisitions of other assets including MegaPath's Managed Services business, the service provider will benefit from AT&T's global reach as it looks to scale its reach for multinational business customers.   

In addition to establishing interconnection agreements with AT&T and other large traditional providers, GTT has a partnership with Equinix where it can provide business customers access to a number of major cloud providers such as IBM Cloud, Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Microsoft Azure (NASDAQ: MSFT).  

Similar to other interconnection agreements AT&T has signed with Level 3 and Cogent, the agreement with GTT could potentially help the telco avoid potential challenges GTT could file with the FCC over net neutrality violations related to network interconnection rules that were laid out in the new net neutrality order.

For more:
- see the release

Related articles:
GTT acquires MegaPath's managed services business, enhances multinational customer base
GTT taps GCX for 100G connectivity between the U.S. and Europe
Cogent, AT&T bury the hatchet with new interconnection agreement
Level 3, AT&T establish network interconnection agreement