Today, however, there are six expensive networks (HiNet, Korea Telecom, Optus, Telecom Argentina, Telefonica, Telstra) that are more than an order of magnitude more expensive than other bandwidth providers around the globe and refuse to discuss local peering relationships. To give you a sense, these six networks represent less than 6% of the traffic but nearly 50% of our bandwidth costs.
Transit prices in Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) are lower than they used to be, but continue to be extremely high in relative terms, costing 17 times the benchmark from Europe, or 170 units. We peer 50% of our traffic, resulting in an effective cost of 85 units.
If you exclude Optus and Telstra, then the price falls to 17 units — because we peer with nearly everyone else.
This isn’t exactly new information; Australia being ridiculous when it comes to data costs – just look at our mobile data plans still.
What is different is that CloudFlare are actively asking you to do something about it. They even go as far as providing links to get you to submit your disapproval on their behalf. Their justification, they’ll be able to continue to offer a free service. That may be true but it will also add a lot to their bottom line too!
Don’t think the NBN will fix this entrenched overcharging model we have for data in Australia either. Their wholesale pricing is just as close to awful as the big two.
Source: Bandwidth Costs Around the World