[kictanet] Faith in local web hosting

Mon Nov 26 12:29:43 EAT 2007

Hi Eric and Washington,

There is another way to look at this. Why is it cheaper overseas? the
obvious answer is that bandwidth there is local. In which case the hosting
companies are not charged high fees for bandwidth. The infact primarily pay
for peering with other networks. In our case we are yet to give hosting
companies access  to the IXP.

One way to solve this is for ISPs to provide an "unbundled" hosting service;
a) Local part $x per MB
b) International part $x per MB
c) Rack Space $x

With such a setup it is much easier for webhosting companies to emerge and
be very creative and at the same time compete with international players.
This would make the business case better for most hosting business and they
would not have to pay the high costs. Right now the high bandwidth cost is
still paid for by the consumer since they still have to access the
internationally hosted sites via the ISP.

Joe Mucheru

> On Nov 26, 2007 7:48 AM, Eric Osiakwan <eric at afrispa.org> wrote:
>
> > Dear Mr. Washington,
> >
> > You have stated the obvious which is the challenge but let me try to
> > share some light on how to solve the problem.
> >
> > It is really a chicken an egg situation, the localhosting business would
> > develop based on demand but like you said demand is relative to cost.
> >
> > However in the interest of developing our countries and continent if we
> > all commit to having country code top level domain (in this case .ke) and
> > host them locally, the demand would trigger supply.
> >
> > On the other hand if the local entrepreneurs can invest in
> > infrastructure and based on market study provide competitive rates (with the
> > generic TLDs) then again the supply could trigger the demand.
> >
> > Having said that, i have noticed something under the sun, which is that
> > for some reason African just dont like using what other Africans produce so
> > in some ways the former strategy would work better if we deal with the
> > attitudinal change.
> >
> > Eric here
> >
> >
> > On 26 Nov 2007, at 08:35, Odhiambo Washington wrote:
> >
> > On Nov 26, 2007 8:03 AM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I have raised this issue before when I did a search and found out that
> > the
> > CCK web site was hosted overseas and thus how can we expect them to
> > monitor
> > the service quality levels of the ISP's.
> >
> > On Sunday I visited the Kibaki web site, I experienced unstable audio
> > streaming so I decided to find out where the site was hosted, yes you
> > guest
> > it overseas.   The other 2 presidential candidates web sites are no
> > better
> > they are not locally hosted.  Is this a reflection of who the targets of
> > this web sites are?
> >
> > The Kibaki site is developed by one 3Mice, if I remember right, which
> > has
> > some association with newly appointed ICT Board Managing Director
> > Kokubo.
> >
> > Regards
> >  Robert Yawe
> > KAY System Technologies Ltd
> > Phoenix House, 6th Floor
> > P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
> > KEnya
> >
> >
> > It's not the faith the people have in local hosting, but rather the
> > cost factor. Last time I looked at this web hosting biz, one company
> > was charging KES 1,000+VAT per month, which was what was though to be
> > competitive. Another one entered into the fray with hype about reduced
> > costing charges, but I am not sure how much business they managed to
> > pick. All the same, their charges did not compare with what is charged
> > internationally (I mean in Europe and the US).
> > Websites is not something that has caught up with many Kenyans,
> > otherwise the volumes would help sustain such businesses locally.
> > I believe the lack of volumes is one of the factors that makes
> > entities like 3Mice to host overseas. Top-notch Kenyan techies have
> > been hosting their Blog with blogspot (overseas). Bandwidth costs is
> > another. In Europe and the US, individuals can afford to connect
> > 10MBps in their kitchens while in Kenya, that kind of bandwidth can
> > only be purchased by ISPs.
> > One last question though: Do you know any reliable webhosting company
> > that hosts it's websites locally, and has reliable and efficient
> > access to those websites? If there is one, they are not marketing
> > themselves enough.
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Best regards,
> > Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
> > Nairobi,KE
> > +254733744121/+254722743223
> > _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
> >
> > "Oh My God! They killed init! You Bastards!"
> >                         --from a /. post
> >
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> >
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> >
> >
> >
> >   Eric M.K Osiakwan
> > Executive Secretary
> > AfrISPA ( www.afrispa.org)
> > Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031
> > Fax: + 233.21.258811
> > Cell: + 233.244.386792
> > Handle: eosiakwan
> > Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North
> > Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North
> > Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/
> > Slang: "Tomorrow Now"
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
> --
> Joe Mucheru
> Office Lead, East Africa
> Google Kenya
> 7th Floor, Purshottam Place
> Westlands Road
> P O Box 66217 - 00800 Westlands
> Nairobi,
> KENYA
>
> +254 20 360 1701 Office
> +254 20 360 1100 Fax
> +254 20 360 1000 Switch Board (Regus)
>
> +254 722522135 Mobile
>
>
> http://www.google.com
>
> This email may be confidential or privileged.  If you received this
> communication by mistake, please don't forward it to anyone else, please
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-- 
Joe Mucheru
Office Lead, East Africa
Google Kenya
7th Floor, Purshottam Place
Westlands Road
P O Box 66217 - 00800 Westlands
Nairobi,
KENYA

+254 20 360 1701 Office
+254 20 360 1100 Fax
+254 20 360 1000 Switch Board (Regus)

+254 722522135 Mobile

http://www.google.com

This email may be confidential or privileged.  If you received this
communication by mistake, please don't forward it to anyone else, please
erase all copies and attachments, and please let me know that it went to the
wrong person.  Thanks.
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