[London, ENGLAND] Bandwidth trading exchange Arbinet-thexchange
announced Wednesday the opening of a direct connection center
in London that will enable European telecoms carriers to trade
bandwidth online.
There will be plenty of choice, as members of thexchange include
over 100 of the world’s top telecoms companies. Now, European
operators will get all the facilities enjoyed by their American
counterparts, such as dynamic, real-time pricing, automated credit
risk management, centralized, automatic billing for all parties,
and the elimination of the time-consuming negotiations that
took place when everyone still traded bandwidth the old-fashioned
way.
Physically based in Central London, the London Exchange Delivery
Point (EDP) provides immediate access to major fiber carriers. At
present, seven European carriers are members of thexchange, but
a connection with the New York EDP adds more than 93 other
members from other parts of the world.
Curt Hockemeier, Arbinet-thexchange president and chief executive,
said the new London EDP would give carriers the choice of interconnecting
with thexchange’s physical delivery infrastructure in either London or
New York.
“They can buy and sell, deliver and settle transactions for telephony
capacity with thexchange’s 100 plus existing members from either
location. This expansion makes it easier for members to join and enjoy
opportunities to increase revenues and reduce costs by trading on
the world’s only full-service automated bandwidth exchange,” Hockemeier
said.
Over US $30 million has been put into Arbinet-thexchange to implement
the bandwidth trading solution. Having found acceptance in the
demanding New York market, the company has now embarked on the
introduction of the service worldwide.
Like oil or cocoa beans, telephony bandwidth is a commodity —
but is measured in minutes rather than barrels or tonnes. The
total global market for it is calculated (by Arbinet-thexchange)
to stand at US $706 billion in 2000.
The good news for consumers is that prices are falling, a trend
which, in the view of Arbinet-thexchange, is further encouraged
by cost-cutting, automated trading.
