Group to recommend members lift blockade of firm's Net traffic

Hong Kong Internet service providers (ISPs) will soon end their blockade of a new Internet exchange that will compete with them in offering Internet access.

IXTech, a private company that grew out of a Chinese University research project, had drawn protests from other ISPs which alleged it enjoyed an unfair competitive advantage.

However, Internet Service Provider Association chairman Daniel Ng said it would recommend members end their blockade of Internet traffic to and from IXTech. He believed the blockade would be lifted in two weeks.

At present, Internet traffic such as e-mail messages or Web-site downloads between IXTech and SAR ISPs must be diverted on to international routes rather than travel through the Hong Kong Internet Exchange, a Chinese University-operated central network point. This not only slows communication between parties, but costs them more.

The blockade was initiated by the ISPA, which protested at IXTech using the university's internal 100 mbps Ethernet link to HKIX, which is also hosted on-campus. The ISPA felt that IXTech, which was set up by the Chinese University Foundation and, at the time, lacked a Pnets (public non-exclusive telecommunications service) licence required for all ISPs - was charging unfairly for Net services.

But the university said those services were offered by the Centre for Internet Exchange Technologies, a government-funded research project, for research purposes only. IXTech had not launched any services at that time.