challenges facings isps in africa

8/8/2019 Challenges Facings ISPs in Africa

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Challenges facing ISPs inChallenges facing ISPs in

Africa: a view from an African Africa: a view from an African

ISPISP

William Stucke

AfrISPA

ZAnet Internet Services



Challenges common to all ISPs

SpecialCh

allenges faced by African ISPs Response to Challenges

Relationship with Telco's

Opportunities



Challenges common to allChallenges common to all

ISPsISPs Cost of bandwidth & carrier services

Continual investment in infrastructure

Highly competitive market

Discretionary consumer & business

spending

Low margins



Special Challenges faced bySpecial Challenges faced by

African ISPs African ISPs Telco monopolies ± uncooperative incumbents

Lack of competition among Telco¶s

Delays in supplying lines & carrier services

Inhibiting Legislation

Extremely high cost of international bandwidth

(pay for both legs) High cost of local carrier services

Distance from the ³centre of the µNet´




African ISPs African ISPs -- 22 Lack of trust and cooperation among local

ISPs

Lack of local IXPs

Cost of imported hi-tech equipment ± high taxation

Availability of imported equipment Purchasing parity and foreign exchange

restrictions and fluctuations




African ISPs African ISPs -- 33 Lack of education among potential users ±

not only computer literacy, but literacy

itself

Limited technical capacity ± lack of skilled

engineers

Brain-Drain ± engineers get experience andthen leave Africa for the West



Rising to the ChallengeR

ising to the Challenge ATU

AfrISPA

Incumbent Telco¶s

Joint Efforts



Rising to the ChallengeR

ising to the Challenge -- ATU ATU Improve legislation ± enabling, not restricting

Fully independent and powerful Regulators in

every country Effective regulation of Telco¶s ± prevent abuses of

power

Introduce competitive Telco¶s

Don¶t charge duty on imported equipment ± give arebate

Fully liberalise VoIP in all African countries



Improving LegislationImproving Legislation Restrictions on who can provide

international connectivity, and how

Restrictions on wireless local links

Licensing of ISPs

Restrictions on use of VoIP

Restrictions on use of technology



Rising to the ChallengeRising to the Challenge ± ±

AfrISPA AfrISPA Foster ISPAs in all countries

Encourage building of local or national

IXPs

Training workshops

How to form an ISPA

How to build & operate an IXP PAVIX ± to provide better connectivity

among IXPs in African countries



Rising to the ChallengeRising to the Challenge ± ± JointJoint

InitiativesInitiatives Educate legislators and regulators

Enact enabling legislation / provide

regulatory dispensation to facilitate earth

stations for PAVIX

Dialogue with incumbent Telco¶s

Improved and increased dialogue between

the ATU and AfrISPA




Telco¶sTelco¶s Recognise ISPs are your best allies, not a threat

Internet usage is an enormous force for economic

growth, especially in the ICT sector, and Telco¶s benefit directly from this. Internet usage is stillgrowing at >> 50% per annum in Africa

For every $1 earned by an ISP from dial-up

customers, the Telco earns $6 from call charges, plus line rental charges from both the ISP and thecustomer, who frequently installs a first or secondline, or upgrades to ISDN or better




Telco¶s 2Telco¶s 2 Over 50% of new leased line installations

are ordered directly or indirectly by ISPs

VoIP allows far greater efficiency in local

and international carrier capacity usage,

which leads to revenue gain due to

increased traffic which gives greater utilisation, rather than a direct loss of

revenue due to alternative supply



Opportunities

Opportunities

Leapfrog the West ± skip over their 15

years of development

Implement World Class networks now

Gigabit networks rather than Megabit

networks

PAVIX ± move the centre of the µNet to

Africa



Pan African Virtual InternetPan African Virtual Internet

ExchangeExchange -- PAVIXPAVIX ³IXP in the sky´

Four countries so far

Satellite link in each country, from each

IXP, to a single satellite

Shared infrastructure, shared costs

Direct connection between countries



PAVIXPAVIX Eliminate huge International bandwidth costs

Increase speed and capacity of African

communications Foster development of local content

Foster intra-African trade, e-commerce, e-

medicine Peer as an equal with USA, Europe

Pay for only one half-leg of international links

challenges facings isps in africa

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