Slow network, fast money: How Deutsche Telekom breaks the internet#

Thomas Lohninger (Netzbremse project)

• Why: Not a technical talk, but a data-driven analysis of how Deutsche Telekom's interconnection practices cause systematic congestion affecting millions of users — directly relevant to peering/interconnection strategy and the regulatory direction of net neutrality enforcement in the EU.
• What: The Netzbremse project documents that Telekom refuses to expand peering capacity appropriately, causing artificial throttling — with users and content providers paying at both ends of the line to avoid congestion. Result: massive quality losses in video streaming, gaming, and online conferencing, especially in the evening. An alliance of consumer protection, civil society, and research is taking action under EU net neutrality law against this as a violation of the open internet principle.
• How: Methodology not detailed in the abstract — presumably measurement-based QoE correlation with interconnection capacity. (from abstract only)
• Where applicable: Relevant to any peering/interconnection strategist in Europe, particularly regarding the tension between net neutrality regulation and commercial interconnection practices. German/EU-specific regulatory context but the interconnection congestion dynamics are universal. Signals where regulatory pressure on interconnection may be heading.