[Bp_localcontent] Let's keep the conversation going! Almost done...

[Duksh K.]

Hi Susan

Will there be recorded archive of tomorrow's call for reference purpose later?

Thanks.

- Duksh
Duksh K.


On 11 August 2014 13:31, Michael Kende <kende at isoc.org> wrote:
> Hello Susan,
>
> Speaking for myself, I agree these are the most important questions, because
> I believe there are relatively few good answers so far – which is why this
> is such a worthwhile initiative.  As I have been, I will mainly focus on
> area 1 regarding the technical infrastructure for hosting within a country
> or regionally.  On this front, I would divide between policies that
> indirectly help to promote local content and those that directly help to
> promote local content, and I think we have a pretty good idea of the former.
>
> Historically speaking, the situation in Africa and Latin America is somewhat
> similar to the situation in Europe in the 1990s.  At that time, the majority
> of European traffic was passing through the US (I heard that at one point
> 66% of European traffic was going through the MAE-East NAP near Washington
> DC), and much of the content was originating there as well.  Part of the
> reason was based on the historical role of the US in developing the early
> Internet, and part of it due to European policies.  At the time, most
> European markets were monopolies, and capacity within and between European
> countries was very expensive – since a link to the US was needed anyway, it
> was efficient to use it for most traffic.  Then European markets began to
> liberalise, capacity prices came down, and the non-profit IXP model emerged
> to be used for local and regional traffic exchange, and then the largest
> grew into significant hubs for content as well.
>
> With all of the new cables to Africa and their open access policies, and
> more capacity in Latin America as well, the prices for capacity are going
> down quite a bit, and now of course there are an increasing number of IXPs
> in countries that can be used to exchange traffic and host content.  From
> work we have done in Africa, the situation is not quite as promising for
> terrestrial capacity, to take traffic within a country, or for cross-border
> connectivity, where there are barriers to crossing borders and picking up
> traffic in other countries – this is particularly an issue for the sixteen
> landlocked countries of Africa and two, and for promoting the development of
> efficient regional hubs for traffic exchange and content.  (We are about to
> start studies of this issue for Latin America and Asia, but they will not be
> ready in time) However, the indications are generally promising in this
> regard. For instance, in East Africa, Liquid just completed a fiber ring
> through the five countries, and there are good reciprocal licensing
> arrangements whereby an ISP from one country can connect to and exchange
> traffic at an IXP in another country without a license in that country
> (which would only be needed to sell services in that country). Likewise,
> there is a good understanding of the conditions for promoting broadband
> access to increase the number of users and usage.
>
> As important as these policies are, they are indirect policies that create
> the conditions under which there is more local content available, but do not
> focus on increasing the amount of local content per se. My sense is that
> less has been done in this respect.  I know that some governments have
> required that their own content is hosted locally – such as Rwanda – which
> helps to promote the creation of hosting infrastructure, but I do not know
> of any other policies to promote this.  Other general policies that help to
> promote local content, I believe, would be a focus on promoting the use of
> the local ccTLD, which gives the websites a domestic focus, and often
> resolve quickly with a local root server.  I don’t have any experience in
> this, but I would gather this has been helped by IDNs, in countries that do
> not use ASCII script.  Also, we have come across a number of innovation hubs
> in countries, which provide a space with Internet access, mentorship,
> possibly seed money, etc., and can act as incubators for developing local
> content – I am not aware of any research that shows the results of these
> hubs, but it also seems quite promising.
>
> In addition to creating the infrastructure for hosting content, there is
> also a need for appropriate legislation and capacity building, and then the
> hardest piece is the creativity and innovative drive behind new apps and
> services, and that of course is much harder to promote.  Looking forward to
> the call tomorrow.
>
> Best,
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> From: Susan Chalmers <susan at susanchalmers.com>
> Date: Friday 8 August 2014 18:06
> To: "bp_localcontent at intgovforum.org" <bp_localcontent at intgovforum.org>
> Subject: [Bp_localcontent] Let's keep the conversation going! Almost done...
>
> Greetings everyone,
>
> I'm writing because our conversation has petered out a bit on what (I think
> are) the most important questions. Thus far, we have discussed the
> definition of "local content", we have shared stories about the states of
> Internet infrastructure, regulation and human capacities in our various
> countries, and we have identified policy measures that exist in our
> countries which relate to local content development.
>
> Now comes the fun part!
>
> What are the successes of the existing policies? Do some countries have the
> same success stories? Let's identify them if possible.
> What turned out to be the unintended consequences of these policies? Again,
> do some countries share the same experiences?
> How can multistakeholder cooperation address the shortcomings in existing
> policies?
>
> Please recall that we'd like to keep responses organised within the
> tripartite structure:
>
> Area 1 - technical infrastructure
> Area 2 - legislation and government policy (including preservation policy)
> Area 3 - human capacity and capability
>
> Thanks again everyone and it would be great if we could keep this
> conversation going over the next few days, so that Mr. Laprise, who is in
> charge of producing the final document, has a rich source of material for
> the final product.
>
> Warm regards,
> Susan
>
> --
> Susan Chalmers
> Consultant, Internet Policy
>
> +1 269 290 2097
> www.susanchalmers.com
>
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