Re: Tanzanian ISPs move closer to establishing an Internet exchange

[Brian Longwe <brian at pch.net>]

the issue here is not really the presence of an IX or IXs in a
counytr/countries but more one of cross-border connectivity between
African countries, which is for the major part non-existent.

Our ideal/vision is  for "digital arteries" - optical fibre trunks -
between countires that would allow direct exchange of traffic; telecoms,
data, internet etc. Thus limiting the inordinate use of overseas
facilities for interconnection. There is a net export of capital out of
Africa for this interchange of traffic. I will post a graph later that
demonsttrates how a handful of western  teleom companies have been reaping
big time from this situation, so I assure you, people are making money on
it - but no Africans are getting a share of this money. And for these big
companies , the longer we Africans "stay in the darkness" the better.

Longwe

On Tue, 13 May 2003, Brian Candler wrote:

> On Tue, May 13, 2003 at 04:17:21PM +0300, John Tully wrote:
> >
> > It seems a difficult number to estimate, but you can be sure that the
> > dollar cost of not having a local IX in Africa is much much more expensive
> > than the same issue for a US or European ISP.
>
> Against that must be weighed:
> - the cost of getting a circuit to the IX (especially if the local
>   infrastructure is poor-quality copper only, and local leased lines in
>   Africa can be very expensive)
> - the cost of extra equipment at the IX
> - the cost of IX administration (shared between members)
>
> which generally means that you have to get above a certain size before it
> becomes economically feasible to join an IX.
>
> I don't dispute that IXes are good things. But you should beware
> exaggeration, as it only weakens the argument. I imagine that if there was
> $400m being poured down a drain every year, there would be people ready to
> get their hands on it. Building an IX would be an attractive commercial
> proposition.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Brian.
>
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