[kictanet] The urgent case for a Regional Internet Exchange Point (RIXP)

Thu Jun 3 09:04:17 EAT 2010

A few years ago, under the EARPTO, we (TESPOK & AfrISPA)  initiated a pilot
EAC Regional Internet Exchange Carrier programme. Under this programme, the
Tanzanian ISP - Simbanet came out tops in the RFP. They then deployed
sat-based infrastructure linking KIXP and TIXP, but had some challenges
getting UIXP online.

They managed to get about 7 ISPs in TZ and about 4 in Kenya to connect to
their infrastructure. Within a few weeks of this, the setup was shifting
10Gb a week! - keeping it off the member ISPs expensive international links.

This was clear evidence of the need for such a service. It is my hope that
with the ongoing rollout of regional fiber optics we will see one or more
carriers who take up this opportunity to provide inter-ixp transit to keep
"regional traffic regional" just the way the IXPs keep "local traffic local"

Best regards,

Brian

On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 7:06 AM, John Kariuki <ngethe.kariuki2007 at yahoo.co.uk
> wrote:

> There is a project called "EAC-BIN" under "Connect Africa Initiative". I
> would suggest you search the two in the web for more details.
>
> John Kariuki
>
> --- On *Wed, 2/6/10, Harry Delano <harry at comtelsys.co.ke>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Harry Delano <harry at comtelsys.co.ke>
> Subject: [kictanet] The urgent case for a Regional Internet Exchange Point
> (RIXP)
> To: ngethe.kariuki2007 at yahoo.co.uk
> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Wednesday, 2 June, 2010, 20:39
>
>
>  Listers,
>
>
> I have noticed, that while all laudable efforts in speeding up
> our broadband connectivity to the
> rest of the world hits top gear, saddeningly regional local
> interconnectivity lags behind. Why
> is this so...?
>
> For instance reaching a branch office located in Tanzania from their Kenya
> HQ office,or  vice
> versa means traffic transits out from our cyberspace to some international
> exchange point
> somwhere in London, hits the return trip back via some other Link to Dar.
> This especially
> affects VOIP connectivity and quality, between interconnected offices, and
> other services
> that rely on good QOS.
>
> This, especially while we are working on the economic, Social, and perhaps
> Political
> intergration of the Comesa block seems to fly in the face of the major
> milestones that have
> been achieved in the Telecommunication sectors of the member countries, and
> I strongly
> suggest the industry addresses this urgently. We need  a Regional Internet
> Exchange point
> set up. Perhaps name it COMESA-IXP or something. But one thing is clear;
> the more we
> each send traffic destined locally on a roundtrip to Europe or elsewhere
> and back, means
> we incur huge transiting costs in the process, which dollars that we export
> out should be
> be used to expand and develop our local & Regional interconnection
> capacity..
>
> I think, this is an issue worth being addressed and I'd be interested to
> discuss this more
> with anyone interested to drive this forward. Anyone..?
>
> Regards,
>
> Harry
>
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-- 
Brian Munyao Longwe
e-mail: blongwe at gmail.com
cell:  + 254 722 518 744
blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com
meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com
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