REDUCING THE BARRIERS TO A SMART INTERCONNECTED AFRICA GOVERNMENT

Edwin OpareTechnical Lead & Open Data EvangelistData.gov.gh

Nairobi , Kenya – 30th September 2013

Focus Areas

Increasing Access & Interconnectivity within and across Governments

Ensuring Open & Free flow of Information across Governments (The Open Internet)

The Internet - the fabric to achieving a smart, interconnected Government: Contributions to GDP

Africa…

Access & Interconnectivity

Africa in numbers

One of the richest and promising continents 54 economies 11 countries out of the 20 fastest growing

economies in the world are in Africa More than 1 Billion inhabitants

Internet users growth more than 1000% over the past 4 years.

ICT contribution GDP in the region growing rapidly

Source: World Bank, AFRINIC

Africa in numbers

Smart Planet = Smart Africa

Instrumented Interconnected Intelligent

Source: IBM

The Africa Internet Evolution

Submarine Cables Africa

SAT3 – 2001 TO 2008SEACOM, TEAMS -

2009

Submarine Cables in AfricaMAINONE, GLO-1, EASSY -

2010 WACS - 2011

Submarine Cables in Africa

ACE - 2012

Submarine Cables in Africa

2014 OUTLOOK

Overall investment

Density of cable landings by country for 2012

Source: Analysys Mason

Internet Penetration

Source: http://www.itu.int/net4/itu-d/icteye/

Internet Costs

Average price per GB of traffic for low, medium & high usage Internet access bundles. (Source: Analysys Mason, Google, Telegeography)

What is wrong?

What is wrong?

Too many roadblocks Lack of liberalization(lack of competition) High cost of licenses High taxes on equipment & services Rights of way challenges

Lack of investment & services (PPP) Promote investment in & use of exchange

points(IXPs)

Political Leadership

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs)

An Internet exchange point (IX or IXP) is a physical infrastructure through which Internet service providers (ISPs) exchange Internet traffic between their networks.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs)

27 EXCHANGE POINTS IN AFRICA South Africa – 5

Kenya – 2 Egypt – 2 Tanzania – 2 Nigeria – 1 Ghana – 1 Rwanda – 1 Congo-Brazzaville – 1 Congo-Kinshasa – 1 Angola – 1

Malawi – 1 Mauritius – 1 Mozambique – 1 Swaziland – 1 Tunisia – 1 Zambia – 1 Uganda – 1 Zimbabwe – 1 Cote D'Ivoire – 1 Botswana – 1

Source: https://prefix.pch.net/applications/ixpdir/

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs)

Typical Internet Connection in one region, province,

state, district

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs)

Example IXP(Peering) Connection in one region, province, state, district

Source: Analysys Mason

Benefits of IXPs

Keeps local traffic local(reduces tromboning)

Lowers bandwidth cost for the end user

Lowers operating costs for local ISPs Reduces latency of local traffic,

improving connection speeds Provides better quality of service for

local content

The Open Internet

25

The Open Internet – Network Neutrality

What if you woke up one day and… could NOT access

because

your ISP or Government says so ?!!

NN is all aboutTraffic Management

End

Start

Bandwidth

Incre

asing

Deman

d for..

Lead

s to

..

Network Neutrality defined

The principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication.

Network Neutrality

Consumers deserve access to the lawful Internet content of their choice.

Consumers should be allowed to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement.

Consumers should be able to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network.

Consumers deserve to choose their network providers, application and service providers, and content providers of choice.

The Internet & GDP

The Internet & GDP

Conclusion

Liberate the Africa Internet Economy Adopt local Open Internet regulations

& Africa-wide Open Internet Policy Create the Africa IXP Association

(AfrIXPA) Promote growth & development in

Africa via a smart interconnected Africa

Think Smart! Think Africa!

- aeopare