- PDF Free Download

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download ""

Rachel Bishop
5 years ago
Views:

Digital Transformation Developing IXPs in Africa: Why it s important and how it offers potential for growth by Delphine Masciopinto, Chief Commercial Officer, France-IX In Africa, the absence of

45 Digital Transformation Developing IXPs in Africa: Why it s important and how it offers potential for growth by Delphine Masciopinto, Chief Commercial Officer, France-IX In Africa, the absence of connectivity between ISPs often results local traffic being routed over expensive international links simply to reach destinations within the country of origin. These links must be paid for in foreign currency so in effect, ISPs are paying international shipping rates for a local delivery. The good news is that there is an internationally recognized solution to this inefficiency, which is an Internet Exchange Point, or IXP and there are currently 37 active IXPs located in 34 cities in 28 African countries. Delphine Masciopinto is Chief Commercial Officer at France-IX, the premier Internet Peering Service Provider in France, enhancing the affordability and the latency of the Internet traffic exchanged in France. She is an experienced telecom professional, who has lived and worked in six different countries in the past two decades, focusing on marketing and commercial development for service providers. Prior to joining France-IX, she led the pricing and bid-support for North America for all the data services running on the Reliance Globalcom/FLAG Telecom network from 2007 to In the early 2000s, she contributed to the marketing and business development of Level 3 Communications in Europe. Prior to Level 3, she managed the launch of data and IP services for Orange s subsidiaries in Denmark, Spain and Jordan. Delphine holds a Master s degree in Marketing from Telecom Business School in France. Second only to Asia in landmass and population size, Africa is currently home to billion people. That massive population is also young as 40 percent is less than 14 years old. UNICEF predicts that by 2050, 25 percent of all the people in the world (and 40 percent of the world s youth) will be African. These young people are, like Millennials in Europe or the US, the online generation, which has helped increase the number of subscriptions to mobile services in Africa over the last few years. According to the GSMA[2], 46 percent of the African population subscribed to mobile services at the end of 2015 and it is predicted that an additional 168 million people across Africa will be connected by mobile services by 2020, taking the total to around 725 million unique subscribers. It sounds like a connectivity success story but a reality-check from Internet World Stats 2017 shows that only 27 percent (circa 346 million people) of Africa s population used the Internet in March significantly less than the 54 percent internet penetration figure for the rest of the world. The real picture is of a continent with potentially huge opportunities for carriers, OTTs, Content Delivery Networks and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and so it is no surprise that wholesale carriers serving Africa are anticipating new customers as these players explore how to maximise new Challenges to meeting capacity demand in Africa The African market is fragmented with three dominant countries South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria accounting for one third of the continent s mobile Internet subscriber-base. With geography, politics and economics potentially challenging the scaling of infrastructure and implementing new services whilst delivering on performance SLAs, especially in remote locations, the question has been asked: Is mobile the answer and might Africa become a mobile first continent?. It has certainly been demonstrated that developing countries, which have not followed a traditional infrastructure-building path, can leapfrog earlier technology stages such as landlines or bricks and mortar branch banking and go direct to mobile telephony, Internet broadcasting and mobile money but, and it s an important caveat, only if they have the bandwidth capacity to do so. There is unquestionably an increase in capacity demand and it is being driven in part by global OTT players and content providers including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Netflix. Traditionally, these companies have used other organization s networks to run their own data-intensive applications. However, by locating their content closer to local Africa 18. Africa & The Middle East 2017 markets they can improve the performance of their services and user experience and therefore increase the adoption of their services. In general, players follow a two-pronged network deployment strategy: localizing their content directly into the local markets within Africa when feasible and/or go to gateway locations, such as Marseille. The gateway model is a good one, offering reasonable network latency and a perfect network environment that combines availability and affordability of both network supply to reach all continents and international datacentres to host the content, in a fully-deregulated market. Keeping it local the role of the IXP in Pan-African connectivity The Internet Society explains the role of the IXP thus : to send a package from London to Paris and to route it via San Francisco would be foolish, unnecessarily expensive and inefficient. Yet this is what is being done every day with Internet traffic between local Internet Service Providers (ISPs), destined for local customers. In Africa, the absence of connectivity between ISPs often results local traffic being routed over expensive international links simply to reach destinations within the country of origin. These links must be paid for in foreign currency so in effect, ISPs are paying international

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b<6=c!/0+!f/+&2,;!7&-%!,!)0,1!-0!$:''0+-!ea! '.+2.(-!0/!102,1!,(3!Da!'.+2.(-!0/!&(-.+(,8 -&0(,1!<(-.+(.-!-+,//&2!G5!DaDa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`a! '.+2.(-! 0/! <(-.+(.-! $:G$2+&'-&0($;! G:-! -%.!H,Y0+&-5!0/!20:(-+&.$!%,4.!,(!<(-.+(.-! '.(.-+,-&0(!G.107!-.(!'.+2.(-!b107.+!-%,(! -%.! Da! '.+2.(-! /0:(3! -0! G.! 2+&-&2,1! /0+! 20:(-+&.$! -0! +.,'! -%.!.20(0H&2! G.(./&-$c!,(3! :$.+$! &(!F/+&2,! ',5! :'! -0! Aa! 0+! Ca! Da!!"!F/+&2,!d!6%.!V&331.!=,$-!e!DaRB

Background Brief. The need to foster the IXPs ecosystem in the Arab region

Background Brief. The need to foster the IXPs ecosystem in the Arab region Background Brief The need to foster the IXPs ecosystem in the Arab region The Internet has become a shared global public medium that is driving social and economic development worldwide. Its distributed