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

Thu Jun 3 14:42:29 EAT 2010

As we look for  technical solutions , it is important to think about the
policy and regulatory framework that will make the technical solution easier
to implement . all the regional economic communities in Africa  established
a formal organ to deal with ICT matters and have formulated elaborate
measures to harmonise and integrate network and services   because of the
importance of ICT in socio economic integration. That is not the case for
EAC, instead  EACO is club of the regulators/ operators  for sharing
experiences , it is not part of EAC. The EAC secretariat has limited
capacity to drive ICT matters. That's why  cross border ICT initiatives are
private sector  driven which is okay but they are limited . for example
Zain's ONE network is not operating in Rwanda and Burundi  and Kama Kawaida
is not operational in Burundi . other companies have to struggle to
establish seamless cross border networks /operations. Perhaps this will be
addressed by the commitments that EAC countries have made in the EAC Common
Market treaty  to open up the market from July 1st, 2010.  All countries
have committed to open their  telecom market without reservations and offer
equal treatment to entities from the other partners to invest . Only Rwanda
has limited the number of cellular licences to max 3 citing its market size.

Cheers 

MM

From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.k
e] On Behalf Of Harry Delano
Sent: 03 June 2010 13:43
To: mureithi at summitstrategies.co.ke
Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'
Subject: Re: [kictanet] The urgent case for a Regional Internet Exchange
Point (RIXP)

Thanks alot, let's see how much the discussion can be helpful ( which I
believe it is quite),in driving

forward the efforts at intergration, sooner, rather than later..

Many thanks..

Harry

  _____  

From: Brian Munyao Longwe [mailto:blongwe at gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 12:53 PM
To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] The urgent case for a Regional Internet Exchange
Point (RIXP)

Harry,

You are very welcome. I think a key point to keep in mind for this issue of
regional interconnection is that based on experiences and lessons learnt
from other parts of the world - namely, Europe and Southern Asia - it has
been proven that regional carriers with cross-IXP connectivity are the most
sustainable. This is as opposed to attempts to establish a "neutral"
facility in the same way that national IXPs function.

In essence - the regulatory, policy and practical aspects are much easier to
deal with and by creating a viable business opportunity, competition is
encouraged which, in theory leads to better prices and hopefully better
quality.

Regards,

Brian

On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Harry Delano <harry at comtelsys.co.ke> wrote:

Esther, Brian & Muriuki,

Thanks so much for this invaluable feedback. I'm scouring all the resources
mentioned.  It's so encouraging 

that there are already efforts underway to address this to get the member
countries interconnected. Hopefully,

some sense of urgency can be injected into this to get the project off the
ground so that we can harness 

maximum benefits from the improved interconnectivity within the countries,
especially on Fibre.

Esther, I will email Shoukry, and will report back..

Regards,

Harry

  _____  

From: Esther Wanjau [mailto:esther_wanjau at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 11:41 AM 

To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke
Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'
Subject: Re: [kictanet] The urgent case for a Regional Internet Exchange
Point (RIXP)

Dear Harry,

COMESA already has a concept paper on the RIXP.  Please contact the Director
of Information and Networking in COMESA Secretariat Sherin Shoukry on
shoukry at comesa.int for more information.  Also visit www.comesa.int and see
the progress made in regard to IT.  There you will find the reports of the
IT technical committees already held.

Hope this helps.

Esther

--- On Wed, 6/2/10, Harry Delano <harry at comtelsys.co.ke> wrote:

From: Harry Delano <harry at comtelsys.co.ke>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] The urgent case for a Regional Internet Exchange
Point (RIXP)
To: esther_wanjau at yahoo.com
Cc: "'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2010, 11:17 PM

Thanks alot John, Am checking this out...

Harry

  _____  

From: John Kariuki [mailto:ngethe.kariuki2007 at yahoo.co.uk] 
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 7:07 AM
To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] The urgent case for a Regional Internet Exchange
Point (RIXP)

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
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