The Bandwidth Brokers are Coming!

[Joanne98]

The first time I heard about Neil Tagare was back in the go-go ’90s, when he was the man behind the international fiber network FLAG Telecom. FLAG went public in 2000, but by then Tagare was already onto his next big idea: building a $1.5 billion global network that would carry Internet traffic from most of the major nations over a giant fiber backbone.

It was called Project Oxygen, and it not only received a ton of media coverage but backing from the likes of Lucent Technologies and Bechtel. But it also suffered from vision overload, and as the broadband bubble burst, Tagare, like many big telecom industry names, faded from the scene. Still, we’ve kept in touch, occasionally exchanging emails and notes. Last week, he let me know about the launch of his new startup, BuySellBandwidth.com, through which carriers around the globe are able to buy, sell and swap capacity.

You’re probably saying to yourself, “Haven’t I heard of this before?” Indeed, even Enron tried to start a bandwidth platform. But BuySellBandwidth.com is more akin to private exchanges or ECNs on the stock market, where membership is by invitation only. The way it works, as Tagare explains, is:

With current cables being able to deliver Terabits of bandwidth, most of which remain unused for years, you can swap capacity with other carriers or cables, either eliminating or significantly decreasing the need for additional Capex investment. You control and decide who to swap with and all the terms and conditions. You can even swap fiberoptic cable capacity with satellite circuits, Wi-Max or 3G spectrum.

Yes, he’s talking about swapping bandwidth, the very thing that a few years back got a lot of broadbandits into trouble — even landing some of them in jail. “Swapping got a bad rap in 2000 because of the illegal accounting transactions certain carriers like Global Crossing were involved in,” Tagare acknowledged. But he went on to say that, “In light of the current economic climate, swapping represents the most economical way to acquire new capacity, especially considering the fact that most fiber cables have plenty of spare capacity.”

http://gigaom.com/2008/07/23/buysellbandwidth-neil-tagare/

[Selatius]

1. Wouldn't unmonitored speculation lead to increases in end-user prices for simply using bandwidth?

I would rather the trades be done in an open and regulated fashion, as opposed to unregulated fashion like with derivatives, which are largely and still unregulated by the SEC.

[Joanne98]

2. Yes. They will turn the internet into the mortgage credit energy commodity crisis

But then that's probably the plan.

[Uncle Joe]

4. I believe that is the plan, Joanne.

The Internet works, it empowers the people, the corporations hate that, and scumbags will continue to come out of the woodwork for all eternity in an attempt to wreck or weaken it one way or another on behalf of the rich and powerful oligarchs and their mega corporations, that's human nature, because they will never be satisfied.

I believe when the people let their guard down regarding the Internet, that will be the beginning of the end.

[RoyGBiv]

3. Oh good grief ...

Someone put Neil back in his box.

It was more like 10 billion, or at least that was what he was trying to raise before all the free money dried up.

Dearlord these people never give up.

[Octafish]

5. The ENRONization of the Internet.

Thank you for the heads-up, Joanne98!