[kictanet] Fibre Optic

[Eric Osiakwan]

Robert,

Please lets be careful the conversation does not degenerate.

Am going to make a subtantive case for why Fiber is important and  
response to the issues you have raised below.

In the global Knowledge society we find ourselves in, bandwidth is  
the veins of the digital economy through which information technology  
and knowledge (the blood) flows. So if 3.9billion is being sent over  
expensive links then spending 7 billion to create a cheaper link  
means, more money would be sent because it is cheaper to send and  
also the money saved from the expensive link would also be sent to  
boost the local economy.

In 2000, the ITU conducted a study that revealed that Africa spends  
about 500musd sending data to each other through third parties, am  
sure double that for voice because Africans like talking to each  
other so it means there is demand hence the issue is to make it  
cheaper by establishing links between our villages, towns, cities and  
countries.

Satellite technology has it own limitations in terms of cost,  
letancy, accuracy, data loss rate etc and it is well know all over  
the world that fiber is a superior technology and has more long term  
benefits. This is not to ignore satellite, it still has and would hav  
a role to play for sometime to come. Even in the short term if you  
consider how much capacity one can get on fiber against the cost of  
laying and lighting it, it is cheaper than satellite however the  
history is that capacity is driven by demand.

Some years back in Sweden, the government pass legislation that  
required fiber to be laid whenever the ground was dug and the cost of  
adding fiber to say a road infrastructure was so little, it did not  
matter but today Sweden is benefiting from that because there is  
fiber to homes and cost next to nothing because the investment then  
is lesser than now. If we dont make those investments now, it would  
be more expensive in the future and we would kick ourselves out of  
the knowledge revolution.


On 3 Dec 2007, at 16:54, robert yawe wrote:

> 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.
Well, i think we have established on this list, that alongside fiber,  
there is a great need to grow and host local content and also use  
ccTLDs. Well, people watch porn not because of the Internet, they  
have already being watching it in real life. Spam is a global problem  
and there are both technical and non-technical solutions being  
applied to it. Well, there are a lot of local chat clients that can  
be installed locally and used. In my small office we have our own  
chat client that we use and as we grow that network also grows from a  
local server.

>
> 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.
Well, you have made a clear case for international, regional and  
national fiber as outsourcing as a bait to move up the value chain of  
ICTs.

>
> 3.  Dream on . . .
Well, i would dream BIG because our world has being changed so far  
ONLY by people who dare to dream....you feel me?

>
> 4.  Log onto a locally hosted site and experience true high speed  
> Internet, stop browsing foreign sites and the fiber ceases to be  
> essential.
This is a fallacy in the entirety of the sentence, however parts of  
it are true. Fiber is essential not only for foreign sites but more  
so for local sites with videos of my folks making movies of our local  
rendition, for example.

Really, the world is become global so geographic space is now  
determined by ip address and dns resolution. One must think local but  
act global, otherwise you are extinct.

> 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.
You contradict yourself in this sentence because you want blood  
(technology) but you resist the high speed (fiber) through which it  
would come to improve your life. Well, i dont want to hold on the  
allegiance but i have seen the Kenyan government put tax payers money  
into some of these things which is worth comending though there is  
room for improvement.

>
> 5.  Charity begins at home and so does B2B and B2C
Again on this list, there is being countless examples of these  
interactions

>
> 6.  Out sourcing what???
It is a billion dollar industry, check the records.

>
> Have a good day.
You too

>
> PS.  Delay fiber or perish
I dont think this is a good statement even from a gentlemen to the  
other.....it lacks decorum

>
> 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
>
>
> Support the World Aids Awareness campaign this month with Yahoo!  
> for Good
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Eric M.K Osiakwan
Executive Secretary
AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org)
Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031
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Handle: eosiakwan
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Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/
Slang: "Tomorrow Now"




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