[kictanet] IG Discussions- Day 2 of 10: Infrastructure Issues-Submarine Cables

Tue Apr 28 09:14:30 EAT 2009

Walu

Interesting ice breaker on the packet exchange -Internet- to keep the
intellectual   community going!

my Initial reactions on Access low impact seems to be a fairly accurate
since the glorified undersea cables are actually top tear and not landing in
my house or office! I think this needs to be demystified to the end user. In
my view possible ways of getting access and broadband access to the end user
would possibly be facilitated by triple play providers such as Zuku who are
not only offering Internet and the only product  but other infotainment
products.

On affordability specifically to the Kenyan scenario I think the PPP (Public
Private Partnership) model would ensure some form of Public Good service
that safeguards the end user. and cushions them from being exploited by
infrastructure investors. I would like to site the SEACOM venture that has
the government and other players such as Safaricom who are private
investors. As you know Safaricom already offers "broadband" Internet
services. If they benefit from high speed Internet through this SEACOM
partnership the end user in this case may actually enjoy faster, more
reliable Internet access.

When we talk about content and local content for that  matter...  I think
this one is just a sorry or sad state of affairs. I agree content should be
independent of infrastructure. As for our Local Universities developing
digital content we need a whole e-education on the benefits of digitising
knowledge and finding new ways of learning and delivering the same....

It will be Interesting to hear what others have to say.

Sam.

On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 8:20 AM, John Walubengo <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Welcome to day 2. Hopefully it would be more interactive than yesterday...I
> want to believe that the paralysis in our politics has not infected and
> paralysed us. And just like during the cold war, scientists and technocrats
> accross the divide continued to exchange internet packets inspite of...
>
> Nway without too much digression, today we want to interrogate several
> assumptions about the long awaited submarine cable(s) that are poised to hit
> our coastal city of Mombasa.  SEACOM, TEAMs, EASsy are all expected to be
> operational starting July 09 (SEACOM), TEAMS (Sep 09) and EASsy (2010?)
>
> Here's my take/opinion on their impact based on a scale of Low(1),
> Moderate(2) and High(3)
>
> i) Access:- Score=1, Low Impact on Access
> The undersea cable is a top-tier infrastructure that has no impact at the
> (User) Access level.  User access level is a function of the maturity of the
> domestic(local) infrastructure.  Unless this is developed proportionately,
> we shall have an an awkward situation similar to a country with top-notch
> Universities (Submarine cable) but no Primary and Secondary Schools to
> provide the students (no Access)...
>
> ii) Affordability: Score= 2,Moderate Impact on Internet Service Costs.
> Yes, the prices are likely to go down from the current retail levels of
> about 2500USD per 1MB to btwn 500-1000USD per 1MB of bandwidth.  But I have
> serious doubts if this prices will be sustained at these low levels because
> the investors in these cables are not in it for fun - they have calculated
> ROI targets that anticipate a huge uptake of the bandwidth.  In the likely
> event that this uptake failes to happen, I see prices beginning to go up by
> the end of the 1st year of the cable operation.  The investors in the cable
> will then begin to milk the few subscribers who may have jumped onto the
> highway in order to pay for the cost of the capital sunk into the cables.
>  Yes, maybe I just cant get over the nasty SAT3  experience where the
> submarine fiber cable landed in the West African region with little impact
> on pricing.
>
> iii) Content: Score=1, Low Impact on Content.
> Incidentally, digital content should be independent of infrastructure.  I
> mean, we do not need the submarine cable for our Lecturers at the
> universities to have their notes in digital form. We do not need the
> submarine cable to digitize government records.  Content is intricately
> related to eventual cost of Internet Service and ideally should be fully
> developed before the submarine cable.
>
> iv) Quality. Score=2, Moderate Impact on Internet Quality.
> "Broadband Quality of Internet" is what every service provider is screaming
> about. But Broadband standard in .KE is way off the mark when compared to
> India or Europe. I will remain sceptical until proven otherwise but I forsee
> the undersea cable having moderate impact on quality because of our poorly
> managed domestic User and  Telco networks. Most Telco networks that will act
> as gateways to the submarine cable are full of Viruses, Spam, Proxies, and
> ill-configured Servers, Routers and Switches that introduce congestion and
> bottlenecks rather facilate broadband access to the Submarine cable.
>
> We have today to hear your views on this...and the floor is open.
>
> walu.
>
>
>
>
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