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Intra-African ConnectivityBridges to a continental backbone
iWeek, Johannesburg, SA 17th September 2003
Introduction
Brian Longwe General Manager, AfrISPA
Background IS the USA really the backbone of the Internet?
Background US Centric Traffic Flows
Cumbersome!
Problems
Poor Performance on transfers between African countries 900 – 2000ms latency for Inter-
country traffic Heavy dependence on Inter-
Continental Satellite connectivity Insufficient internal optical fibre
connectivity Insufficient cross-border
connectivity
Barriers
Legislation Economics Socio-Political Agendas Inter-Provider Cooperation and
Collaboration
Solutions National Exchange Points: Interconnecting Local
ISPs
Local ISPs
Gateways
Internet Exchange Point
Keep Local Traffic Local!
Solutions
Regional Exchange Points: Interconnecting National IXs
Status of IXPs/NAPs in Africa South Africa: JINX - est. 1997 Zimbabwe: ZIX - est. 1999 Kenya: KIXP - est. Feb. 2002 Mozambique: MOZ-IX - est. May 2002 Egypt: EG-IX - est. May 2002 Kinshasa, DRC: KINIX - est. December
2002 Uganda: UIXP – est. June 2003 Tanzania: TIXP- est. June2003 Nigeria: IBIX - est. April 2003 Nigeria: Lagos IX - est. Aug 2003?
Status of IXPs/NAPs in Africa
∂
Out of 53 countries in Africa…
… only 9 have national IXPs
AfrISPA’s African Internet Exchange Task Force - AFIX-TF aims to facilitate the establishment of up to 30 IXPs over the next 3 years
IXPs: Things to Do
Any Peering/IX initiative involves 10% technical work
The remaining 90% is relationships (socio-political engineering)
Official regulatory support Definition of internal peering policy
framework
Regional Internet Traffic Exchange: Justifications Most African countries exchange
Internet traffic via countries in the West (and Asia)
African ISPs must purchase transit to African destinations via US/European/Asian ISPs
This equates to an exportation of capital to developed nations at the expense of developing countries
Regional Internet Traffic Exchange: Justifications
Share of backbone connections to countries with less than 5 ISPsSource: OECD via Netcraft
Regional Internet Exchange: Justifications Independent Research shows that
Africa loses over US$400 Million/yr for telecommunications traffic exchange via other continents
The least developed continent in the world…
…paying the most developed for internal communications?
This does not make sense!
Regional Internet Exchange: Justifications A strong, domestic Internet
industry creates high-paying knowledge worker positions
Domestic traffic exchange reduces the importation of foreign content and cultural values, in favor of domestic content authoring and publishing
Regional Internet Exchange: Strategy Establishment of National Internet
Exchange Points Create opportunities for the
emergence of Regional Carriers facilitating regional peering/continental transit
Promote the development of cross-border links and inter-country infrastructure
Critical Factors for Regional IXPs/Regional Carriers National Exchanges Political Support Policy Reform Regulatory “Provisioning” Regional Cooperation Strategic Partnerships Existence of “Critical Infrastructure” DIGITAL ARTERIES
SAT-2, SAT-3/WASC/SAFE, SEA-ME-WE, ATLANTIS 2, FLAG
Current African Submarine Fibre Connectivity: Mostly “Perimeter”
Sourc
e:
CTiA
Rep
ort
20
02
/03
Planned Intra-Country Fibre: COMTEL
Sourc
e:
CTiA
Rep
ort
20
02
/03
Planned Intra-Country Fibre: SRII
Sourc
e:
CTiA
Rep
ort
20
02
/03
Planned Intra-Country Fibre: EADTP
Sourc
e:
CTiA
Rep
ort
20
02
/03
Current Initiatives
AfrISPAs AFIX-TF 30 IXPs over next 3 years
Connectivity Africa’s RXP Project “Proof of Concept” Regional
Exchange Point Pan African Virtual Internet
Exchange - PAVIX East African Marine Fiber
Optical linkage between Durban and Djibouti
Thank You!
http://www.afrispa.org http://www.catia.ws http://www.connectivityafrica.org
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