[kictanet] Fibre Optic

Mon Dec 3 16:54:28 EAT 2007

Alex,

You again still have not justified the landing of the marine cable.

1.  Of the US 500 Million spent on satellite connectivity 80% is none productive traffic such as porn, spam and chat (you and me both in Nairobi but chatting on MSN).  Reducing costs is not necessarily the only way to resolve an issue most of the times it is easier to increase your income so that the expense as a percentage is lowered.

2.  Lets not replace the world bank loans with diaspora remittances, let us become productive and more ingenious, lets take advantage of our position as the most advanced economy in sub Saharan Africa.  We need to lay fiber to the neighbouring countries so that we can pick out sourcing contracts from Europe and America but set up the call centers in the neighbouring countries.  That way we utilise our higher value personnel to look for high value outsourcing.

3.  Dream on . . . 

4.  Log onto a locally hosted site and experience true high speed Internet, stop browsing foreign sites and the fiber ceases to be essential.  I know Dr. Ndemo says we cannot be an Island, is it being an Island when you are faithful to one partner.  Certain things can be shared such as a hand shake or a conversation but certain activities are best kept within.  Lets not over stretch ourselves bringing high speed garbage when we can use technology to improve our lives, locally.

5.  Charity begins at home and so does B2B and B2C

6.  Out sourcing what???

Have a good day.

PS.  Delay fiber or perish

Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
KEnya 
Tel: +254722511225

----- Original Message ----
From: Alex Gakuru <alexgakuru.lists at gmail.com>
To: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Friday, 30 November, 2007 6:25:46 PM
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Fibre Optic

Robert:

I cannot rationally argue against fibre connectivity, but on processes
 yes.

Of course, I will argue hypothetically since if I responded seemingly
with insider information then I would be misleading consumers. And you
know my issues...

On Nov 30, 2007 4:46 PM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Explain one issue to me, how will the marine cable increase the
 remittances
> from the diaspora, they are sending 3.9 billion over slow, expensive
> satellite links why should we reduce this by spending 7 billion to
 land the
> fiber?

1. AfDB data shows that in total Africa spends US$ 500 million (shs 30
billion) every year on transit satellite bandwidths.( i.e. 5 TEAMS
projects). That would be a saving!

2. Back to your question, since it would be (promised very) cheap to
call them, then we shall call them day and night "convincing" them how
they have neglected mother Africa, poetically narrating Wanjiku's
financial sufferings back home, her kiosk that needs only one-off
stocking and her anguish will ease. They are only human.  They  will
dig deeper into their pockets, miss a few lunches, tighten their
belts, or speak nicely to their bosses on their urgent need to
alleviate home poverty. If we collude and do this nationally for just
one year, then we could quadruple remmitances to 16 billion shillings
or at worst double it to 8 billion-enough to build a cable that will
benefit us for the next 25 years:) That was on a light note though I
am paraphrasing real comments attributable to *130* "Please call me"
to diasporans.

3. Imagine starting a movie company. Be it a comedy, folk tales, Flora
and Fauna, or like developing video games like Wesley Kiriinya's,
"Adventures of Nyangi" http://www.sinc-studios.com/. The fibre gives
one a potential 1.2 billion internet users customer base. Because THEY
can play quality demo videos clips fast many are bound to purchase and
if, say 10,000 buy a product at US$10 that would be Kshs 6 million.
Such opportunities are lost every day we are not connected by fibre.

4. We have 2.7 million internet users. For how long does each one take
tapping their fingers on the desk waiting for a slow web page to load?
Multiply each one's lost productivity by 365 days/year then by 2.7
million and compute the national productivity loss caused by slow, yet
very expensive internet. Based on these mathematics OECD countries
have put up a nifty graphic showing broadband rankings of member
countries, but which also include average price of broadband and
average throughput here
http://www.fiberevolution.com/2007/11/us-lags-in-grap.html, pointer
courtesy Bill St. Arnaud http://www.canarie.ca/. I would be
interesting to have Dr. Ndemo's expected consumer prices to compare.

5. Consumer/Busineses costs saving would be the most apparent benefit.
I need not dwell on that since we all feel them pretty well.

6. I also skip outsourcing.

> Alex, all I ask is can you give me a logical reason why we should
 spend 7
> billion to land this fiber?

Are above logical enough reasons sufficiently compelling justification
to support the international fibre? But like I said, remember SAT3
West Africa cable cost nearly the same as satellite because of
Bandwidth cartels. So should be assured they have no space in TEAMS to
clog broadband to consumers, but that is somebody's job. We are only
asking for assurance it will not turn out to be a white grey elephant
project:)

>
> I am aware this discussion is academic but it should not stop us from
> questioning the rational.
>
That's the spirit! We keep Ndemo on his toes, always....

Thanks,

Alex

      __________________________________________________________
Sent from Yahoo! - the World's favourite mail http://uk.mail.yahoo.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20071203/3582c756/attachment.htm>