Cogent sees 'lumpy' Internet traffic pattern

Ethernet-based service provider Cogent Communications reported a 19 percent surge in revenue over the second quarter of last year to $54 million in the same quarter this year. However, Cogent also reduced its revenue outlook for the year to $218 million, from what had been a forecast of between $225 million and $235 million. The reason for the adjustment was in part a 1 percent decline in network traffic during the second quarter and a 3% drop during the month of June alone.

Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer, speaking to Telephony, described Internet traffic growth as being in a "lumpy" phase, in which traffic to some video and social networking Web sites has grown more slowly in the recent past than it had been earlier. Schaeffer cited the pattern as industry-wide, though indicated that other service providers have not been forthcoming about the pattern shift.

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