INET Africa Speaks to Critical Need for African Interconnection

More than 120 Internet stakeholders in Africa joined the Internet Society (ISOC) last month to explore the role that regional interconnection might play in reducing the cost of local and regional communications in the region and whether it could enhance research and education collaboration, promote local content and eventually lead to an increase in Internet penetration in the region. The discussions were held in Morocco as part of the Internet Society's INET Africa Regional Conference.

Addressing this year's theme, "African Interconnection -- The Value Proposition," leaders from industry as well as regional experts explored the challenges faced by the region and looked for ways to stimulate interconnection in an effort to increase Internet usage and growth in coming years. A significant part of the discussion described the need to create affordable regional and international connectivity, which is vital to the growth and sustainability of university research and education networks as well as to the ability of the region to achieve social, economic, and scientific advancement.

"I once heard someone say that there are two island continents on the map of the Internet world," said Karen Rose of ISOC. "The first is the Pacific region, where countries and networks are separated by vast expanses of physical distance and water, and the second is Africa, where countries and networks are separated by lack of interconnectivity."

As a result, Rose explained, the price per megabyte of transit traffic in the African region ranges from US$3,000-5,000, and is often subject to satellite latencies, regardless of whether the traffic is traveling to a neighboring country. "As these costs must be incorporated into an access provider's operational model," she said, "it has an enormous impact on levels of affordability for Internet users."

Speaking to the challenges, Mustapha Mezghani of 2CW pointed to the lack of regional interconnection and a subpar national terrestrial infrastructure as well as an inefficient distribution system to countries that have access to submarine fiber. "There is a need to harmonize the regional interests in order to achieve interconnection as all countries have different priorities," said Mezghani.

In terms of localising Internet traffic in East Africa, Eng. James Kilaba of TCRA described Tanzania's and EARPTO's (The East Africa Regulatory, Postal and Telecommunications Organization) regulator-driven approach to promote national and regional interconnection. The approach, said Kilaba, led to an awarding of a contract to a carrier in the East Africa region to provide transit interconnection between the three IXPs. At the same time, the Tanzanian government is facilitating the building of IXPs in the major towns that will be interconnected with the aim of lowering local access costs.

As part of its new Enabling Access initiative, ISOC has identified a number of factors that impact access, particularly in developing regions. Through the initiative, ISOC is exploring technical capacity and knowledge, economic and market factors, and the role of telecoms and Internet regulations.

The Internet Society is a non-profit organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education and policy. With offices in Washington, D.C., and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world.