Level 3, Comcast call truce in peering fight

Level 3 Communications (NYSE: LVLT) and Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) have come to terms over their much publicized interconnection dispute, but did not reveal the terms of their agreement.

"Level 3 and Comcast have worked together collaboratively to reach a new, mutually satisfactory interconnect agreement that strengthens our partnership and we look forward to working together in the future," the companies said in a joint statement. 

The debate between the two service providers dates back to November 2010 when Level 3 challenged Comcast's request that it had to pay the cable MSO a fee to deliver Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) movies to its residential customers. Netflix is one of Level 3's content delivery network (CDN) customers.

At that time, Level 3's Chief Legal Officer Thomas Stortz said that Comcast's requirement to pay a toll every time a subscriber seeks non-Comcast content "violates the spirit of the open Internet." 

Comcast's senior VP-external affairs and public policy counsel Joe Waz countered in a statement that the cable operator it would have been happy to come to terms with Level 3, adding that Level 3 is sending five times more traffic over Comcast's network than Comcast sends over its network.

Disputes between wholesale providers such as Level 3 and incumbent telcos and cable operators have become a common occurrence in recent years with growth of over the top video services.

Cogent Communications (Nasdaq: CCOI), which also provides Internet access services to Netflix, has also weathered a number of peering disputes, including two this year with Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and France Telecom.

For more:
- see the statement

Related articles:
Level 3 protests fees to deliver Netflix movies to Comcast customers
Level 3 adds 1.65 Tbps capacity to its content delivery network

Updated on July 16 with a new updated quote from both companies.