Cogent Communications

Cogent Communications is a multinational internet service provider based in the United States. Cogent's primary services consist of Internet access and data transport, offered on a fiber optic, IP data-only network, along with colocation in data centers.[4] Although Cogent is not a Tier 1 ISP by definition, due to lack of complete IPv6 connectivity, the company still advertises itself a Tier 1 ISP.[5] There has been debate among networking professionals as to whether or not this amounts to false advertising.

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.
TypePublic
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded1999
HeadquartersWashington, D.C., U.S.
Key people
Dave Schaeffer (CEO)/founder/president
RevenueIncrease US$589.797 million (2021)[1]
Increase US$119.233 million (2021)[1]
Increase US$48.185 million (2021)[1]
Total assetsDecrease US$984.557 million (2021)[1]
Total equityIncrease US$147.444 million (2021)[1][2]
Number of employees
1001[1] (2021)
Websitewww.cogentco.com
Primary ASN174
Traffic Levels100 Tbps+[3]

Acquisition history

Cogent was founded in 1999 at the peak of the industry's growth and was funded by angel investors including members of Keiretsu Forum.[6] In three years, Cogent acquired 13 other failing carriers, purchasing $14 billion in capital for $60 million, including $4 billion worth of Property, Plant and Equipment.[7]

  • September 2001 – Acquires the assets of NetRail[6]
  • February 2002 – Acquires Allied Riser[8][9]
  • April 2002 – Acquires Building Access Agreements from OnSite Access
  • April 2002 – Acquires Major US Assets of PSINet[10]
  • September 2002 – Acquires Major Assets of FiberCity Networks
  • February 2003 – Acquires Fiber Network Solutions[11]
  • May 2003 – Acquires Assets of Applied Theory
  • January 2004 – Acquires LambdaNet France & Spain[12]
  • March 2004 – Acquires Fiber Network and Equipment in Germany Out of Former Carrier1 Assets[13]
  • September 2004 – Acquires Global Access[14]
  • October 2004 – Acquires Aleron Broadband[15]
  • December 2004 – Acquires NTT/Verio Dedicated Access Business in U.S.[16]

In September, 2022, it was announced that Cogent was buying the Sprint Corporation wireline business from T-Mobile for $1.00, assuming some liabilities.[17]

Peering disputes

Cogent has been controversial in the ISP market for low bandwidth pricing and its public disputes over peering with AOL (2003),[18] Level 3 Communications (2005),[19] France Telecom (2006),[20] Limelight Networks (2007),[21] Telia Carrier (March 2008),[22] and Sprint Nextel (October 2008).[23]

On March 14, 2008, after Cogent stopped routing packets from European network provider Telia (AS 1299), their two networks lost mutual connectivity.[22] The connection was reestablished March 28, 2008 with interconnection points in both the United States and Europe.[24]

On June 6, 2011, Cogent automatically stopped peering with The Department of Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) causing a disruption for three days.[25]

In November 2015, CenturyLink signed a new long-term bilateral interconnection agreement with Cogent Communications.[26]

Cogent has yet to agree on peering with the biggest IPv6 connectivity provider, Hurricane Electric. As of March 2023, direct connectivity between the two networks is impossible.[27] Cogent and Google have also stopped IPv6 peering in 2016.[28] This is rumored to be closely tied to Cogent leveraging Google's IPv4 traffic via a paid customer or to maintain Settlement-Free Interconnect with another network.[29]

In February 2017, Cogent blocked many piracy and streaming sites including The Pirate Bay.[30] This was unintentional due to a poorly crafted Spanish court order.[31]

References
  1. "2021 Cogent Communications SEC Form 10-K". Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved September 17, 2022.
  2. "2020 Cogent Communications SEC Form 10-K". Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved September 17, 2022.
  3. Cogent Communications, Inc. "PeeringDB". PeeringDB. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  4. "Cogent Communications, Form 10-Q, Quarterly Report, Filing Date Nov 7, 2012" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  5. "About Cogent". cogentco.com. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  6. "Cogent Communications, Form S-4, Filing Date Oct 16, 2001" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  7. "Lightwave – Cogent Communications banks on Ethernet over IP". Archived from the original on 2009-06-15. Retrieved May 19, 2008.
  8. "Cogent Communications, Form 425, Filing Date Aug 29, 2001" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  9. "Cogent Communications, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Feb 5, 2002". secdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  10. "Cogent Communications, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Apr 4, 2002". secdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  11. "Cogent Communications, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Mar 3, 2003" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  12. "Cogent Communications, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Jan 8, 2004". secdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  13. "Cogent Communications, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Mar 31, 2004" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  14. "Cogent Communications, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Sep 17, 2004". secdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  15. "Cogent Communications, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Oct 29, 2004" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  16. "Cogent Communications, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Dec 3, 2004". secdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  17. Malik, Yuvraj (2022-09-07). "T-Mobile sells wireline business to Cogent for $1, expects hefty charge". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  18. Noguchi, Yuki (2002-12-27). "'Peering' Dispute With AOL Slows Cogent Customer Access". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2012-07-14. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
  19. "Cogent's Standing Offer to Level 3: Turn the Connection Back On, Then…". archive.is. 2012-09-07. Archived from the original on 2012-09-07. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  20. Kuri, Jürgen; Smith, Robert W. (2005-04-21). "France Telecom severs all network links to competitor Cogent". Heise online. Retrieved September 28, 2006.
  21. Miller, Rich (30 September 2007). "Cogent De-peers Limelight Networks | Data Center Knowledge". Data Center Knowledge. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  22. The Telia-Cogent Spat Could Ruin the Web For Many, Om Malik, 2008-03-14
  23. Sprint-Nextel Severs Its Internet Connection to Cogent Communications
  24. Telia resolves internet dispute Archived 2008-06-07 at the Wayback Machine, http://thelocal.se, Peter Vinthagen Simpson, 2008-03-30
  25. "ESnet announcement Thurs". web.archive.org. 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  26. "CenturyLink, Cogent sign new interconnection agreement | FierceTelecom". www.fiercetelecom.com. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  27. "E-mail from Hurricane Electric explaining why the two networks are severed on the nanog (North American Network Operators Group) mailing list". Archived from the original on 2009-10-16.
  28. adminhacks.org, March 2016
  29. Murenin, Constantine A. (2017-02-25). "Cogent & Google IPv6". Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  30. "Internet Backbone Provider Cogent Blocks Pirate Bay and other "Pirate" Sites - TorrentFreak". TorrentFreak. 9 February 2017.
  31. "A court order blocked pirate sites that weren't supposed to be blocked". Ars Technica. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
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