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

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/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