Google’s Corporation has reached out to Russian operators, urging them to create direct joints in Moscow or St. Petersburg in order to maintain access to their services. This request comes as a result of problems with the Google Global Cache (GGC) servers in Russia. Konstantin Kolesov, the head of strategic development of data transmission at Vimpelcom (brand – “Beeline”), highlighted the risk of a potential reduction in the quality of video content by 2024. Kolesov emphasized the importance of Content Delivery Network (CDN) in ensuring effective content delivery.
Over the past year, Google has not supplied new GGC servers to Russia, despite the continuously increasing traffic. This traffic growth can lead to the natural wear and failure of the GGC servers or the insufficient capacity to handle the desired volume. As a result, there may be a decline in the quality of YouTube videos, particularly for shorter videos. Initially, the content quality deterioration would occur in the regions, with the load then shifting to Moscow and St. Petersburg, putting additional strain on the main networks. This situation could potentially provide an advantage to domestic services.
This scenario predicts the growth of Russian services in 2024, as they could replace Google’s traffic. The number of GGC servers on the Er-Telecom network has already decreased due to wear and tear. ComNews Research estimates that by the end of 2023, the number of GGC servers will be reduced to around 450, compared to approximately 700 servers at the start of 2022 on Russian operators’ networks.
Yaroslav Gorodetsky from SDN-Video (CDNVIDEO, controlled by “Vimpel” CDN provider in Russia and the CIS) highlights the possibility of reduced YouTube quality, which may push users to seek alternative content platforms. However, it should be noted that the transition to Russian platforms may not occur uniformly across all regions.
Globalnet has reassured users that the DataX traffic point maintains direct connections with Google in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Europe, indicating that there are no significant web problems anticipated in the near future. Additionally, Transtelecom mentioned their junction with Google in Stockholm, which helps ensure continued access to Google services.
It is worth recalling that in May 2022, Google notified several Russian internet providers of the termination of the Google Global Cache service agreement. These servers are responsible for accelerated loading of Google services, including the popular YouTube platform in Russia.