PLDT fast tracks the Internet in the Philippines 
(Asian Business Review - September 1997 issue) 

The internet has been fast tracked in the Philippines by a new Internet eXchange service built by the country’s leading telecommunications company, PLDT 

The Internet community in the Philippines has been given a huge boost with the launch of the Philippines Internet eXchange, or PhIX. Previously, all internet service providers were forced to use internet exchanges overseas, such as those in the USA, Hongkong, or even Japan. Service providers would lease a fixed line to the overseas eXchange, and would have to use slow, low bandwidth connections to afford it. 

The new PhIX has not only sped up overseas connections. When an end user sent an e-mail from a Philippines site to someone in the same building, the message could take hours or even days as it was routed around the world. With the new Philippines hub, local interconnections are immediate. 

The PhIX allows service providers to minimize the heavy cost of an international leased line. Another operational issue that triggered the inception of the PhIX was the occasional downtime of the international leased line circuits. The downtime disconnects the local service provider from the Global Internet resulting in serious delays
in e-mail delivery, not to mention the stopping of internet access for customers. 

The first 5 service providers to link to PhIX are Infocom Technologies, Inc., IPhil Communications Network, Inc., Virtualink International Corp., and WorldTel Philippines Inc. Not only have they benefited from the faster and cheaper 64 kbps link, but they are also helped in their marketing the inclusion of the PhIX logo on all their sales materials, net sites and documentation. Internet consumers are re-assured by the backing of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, the country’s leading telecommunications company. 

Based on the latest traffic data, these 5 service providers exchanged among themselves a total of 4.76 million frames of information during the period 18-22 July 1997, which points to the potential local internet traffic in the Philippines. Most of the hype about the internet has focused on its globalising influence and potential for international communication. Yet some industry observers, such as the Internet Forecasting Bureau in the UnitedStates, have predicted that around 70% of internet traffic will be local when the internet matures and gets strong market penetration. 

The PhIX concept was floated last October when all the country’s internet service providers with gateway connections overseas were invited to a presentation at PLDT. January this year, saw a pilot operation launched and by June any glitches had been ironed out and the PhIX was up and running. 

The five pioneer service providers have signed a Multi Lateral Peering Agreement, MLPA, with each other which allows them to freely eXchange traffic. All information passing across PhIX between and among the peers shall not be filtered or tampered with nor shall it be examined for content. 

Static routing will be used initially, with the transit and default of packets not allowed. 

There are currently seven more internet service providers queued up to join and it is expected the total number of service providers will double by the close of 1997. Charges for PhIX connection include a one-off connection fee of P 10,000 and a recurring charge of P 5,000 for a share 10-Mbps connection or P 8,000 for a guaranteed 10-Mbps connection. These charges don’t include the leased line connection cost, which will be shouldered by  the service provider. For more information on the new Internet eXchange you can visit the web site at http://www.phix.net.ph.