Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. 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.[3][4]
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.[5] 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.[6]
September 2001 – Acquires the assets of
NetRail[5]
December 2004 – Acquires
NTT/Verio Dedicated Access Business in U.S.[15]
In September, 2022, it was announced that Cogent was buying the
Sprint Corporation wireline business from
T-Mobile for $1.00, assuming some liabilities.[16]
On March 14, 2008, after Cogent stopped routing packets from European network provider
Telia (
AS 1299), their two networks lost mutual connectivity.[21] The connection was reestablished March 28, 2008 with interconnection points in both the United States and Europe.[23]
On June 6, 2011, Cogent automatically stopped peering with the US Department of Energy's Energy Sciences Network (
ESnet) causing a disruption for three days.[24]
In November 2015, CenturyLink signed a new long-term bilateral interconnection agreement with Cogent Communications.[25]
In December 2015, Cogent sued
Deutsche Telekom. Cogent claimed that DTAG failed to increase interconnection capacity between the two networks. According to a statement released by Cogent [26] “Deutsche Telekom has interfered with the free flow of Internet traffic between Cogent customers and Deutsche Telekom customers by refusing to increase the capacity of the interconnection ports that allow the exchange of traffic”
Cogent has yet to agree on peering with the biggest IPv6 connectivity provider,
Hurricane Electric. As of March 2023,[update] 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][speculation?] As of November 2023,[update] the two networks appear to be reachable over IPv6 via
Tata Communications.[30]
In February 2017, Cogent blocked many
piracy and streaming sites including
The Pirate Bay.[31] This was unintentional due to a poorly crafted Spanish court order.[32]
In February 2024, Cogent withdrew peering with
NTT in Europe,[33][34] forcing all their peering traffic to go through their common remaining interconnections in USA, increasing latency and traffic loss between both networks, to complain against refusal of peering settlements in Asia from NTT.