[Bp_localcontent] Regional Specificities

Sat Jul 12 07:51:01 EDT 2014

Hello,

Thanks Susan for setting up the next phase.  A few thoughts below.

First, on data we have been gathering an excel spreadsheet where we can include broadband penetration levels (fixed and mobile), presence of ISP competition, and many other measures, for Africa, Latin America, and emerging Asia-Pacific.  I would be happy to share that, although of course it does not replace on-the-ground stories about the state of competition, as opposed to the database which indicates whether competition is allowed, but not how vigorous it is.  Most of the data come from the ITU.

I would also like to share a bit more information that I have gathered about local content in Rwanda given to us by the government.  They asked the ISPs to indicate to them the top 20 Rwandan-owned websites, of which about 15 are commercial, and the rest are government.  The government ones are required to be hosted locally, all of the others are hosted abroad, either Europe or the US.  (Note that these were not the top 20 websites visited by Rwandans, which of course include Google and others like in other countries).

While there we (Karen Rose and myself) held a local content workshop, including government, ISPs, content providers, web developers, and data centers, and the main issues raised for the decision to host abroad were price and quality of service (including security), characteristics of which were viewed more positively abroad.  This led to some spirited discussions, which revealed that some of these views were based on perception rather than actual experiences – there were stories of US web hosters losing all data, and evidence of falling prices locally.  Of course, it is hard to sort through these stories in a workshop, but what everyone agreed was that getting together in one room to talk through these issues is itself very beneficial to help dispel myths.   A number of the websites acknowledged the benefits of hosting locally, in terms of latency, and expressed the price point at which they would be willing to do that - one small company was live streaming video from local events, to local users, via Colorado, with a high latency and filling up international transit both directions, and was looking for a local solution.  Others, some of whom entrusted their sites to web developers, in fact had no idea where there content was actually being hosted (including the CEO of one of the largest ISPs, who did not know where his website was, but promised to look into it and consider ‘bringing it home’ – we discovered it was in the Amazon cloud, not local).

Finally, a note about ‘locally relevant content’.  As part of its Google Global Cache program, there is a YouTube cache in Rwanda, available to all ISPs via the IXP, RINEX.  While it takes some international capacity to fill the cache, we calculated that at the current cost of international transit, the cache is saving ISPs USD 750,000 per year – much of it new traffic driven by the lower latency, which in turn is increasing revenues for the ISPs who sell data incrementally.  As more such content is cached locally, such as from the other CDNs, it will further decrease costs, and can promote bigger buckets of data from the ISPs, further driving usage.  Also, it highlights the benefits to local content providers of hosting their own websites locally.  That, for me, illustrates the value of international locally relevant content in driving usage.

We are gathering data from the ISPs and content providers, and if not sooner, hope to be able to report on the numbers at the IGF.

Best regards,
Michael

From: Susan Chalmers <susan at susanchalmers.com<mailto:susan at susanchalmers.com>>
Date: Friday 11 July 2014 19:25
To: "dg_cameron at bigpond.com<mailto:dg_cameron at bigpond.com>" <dg_cameron at bigpond.com<mailto:dg_cameron at bigpond.com>>
Cc: "bp_localcontent at intgovforum.org<mailto:bp_localcontent at intgovforum.org>" <bp_localcontent at intgovforum.org<mailto:bp_localcontent at intgovforum.org>>
Subject: Re: [Bp_localcontent] Regional Specificities

Dear Don,

Many thanks for your email.

On the research - it would be helpful if you could share the figures and reference links.

On the context - thank you for sharing. Your thoughts on the nebulous definition of broadband alone are insightful. And why there aren't adequate DSLAMs - is it because the ILEC has the keys to the building? Didn't Amazon open a big data centre in Sydney not loo long ago? Last year the NOG community in NZ discussed whether, given Australia's growth, traffic should flow to and fro over Southern Cross Sydney more often than LA. Where has tromboning decreased for countries and why? Dessalegn I believe mentioned edge caching last week.

There are all valuable questions, the answers to which we have to collect in a very short amount of time. So all insights welcome on Areas 1, 2 and 3.

Cheers,
Susan

On Fri, Jul 11, 2014 at 12:03 AM, Don Cameron <dg_cameron at bigpond.com<mailto:dg_cameron at bigpond.com>> wrote:
Hi Susan,

I was wondering about the tech infrastructure question (Area2) - Most of this is well researched and published (how many ICP's and BB penetration), so are you after a more localised perspective of the the reality of the research? In Australia as elsewhere our published research is more than a little glorified by incorporating any bandwidth above 56K as 'broadband', even when such bandwidth is at the limit of mobile or WIFI reception, and/or oversubscribed and essentially one-way satellite offering no scope at all for local hosting. Perhaps the worst of these is where broadband is defined as 'accessible' yet local telephone exchanges lack adequate DSLAM's to provide a service meaning the only option is mobile BB (and once again, no provision for local hosting). It's very hard to gain true insight into the extent of broadband coverage when broadband itself is so loosely defined.

Less researched IMO is the question of hosting location (local or abroad) and this might prove difficult to determine. I previously ran an ISP and today administer a large regional network, and while our logs provide an excellent reference for connectivity and usage rates; what they do not show is how and where people host content. I wonder how many people really know? IBM have a very large data centre in Australia however it is also mirrored elsewhere across the globe. Where does the content live?

Don

------------------------------------------
From: Susan Chalmers <susan at susanchalmers.com<mailto:susan at susanchalmers.com>>
To: michele at blacknight.com<mailto:michele at blacknight.com>;
CC: bp_localcontent at intgovforum.org<mailto:bp_localcontent at intgovforum.org>;
Subject: Re: [Bp_localcontent] Regional Specificities
Hi Michele,
Certainly not a dumb question and mea culpa for using terms so loosely in
the UN context. There is no hard and fast definition of region here.
Sincerely,
Susan
On Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 8:41 PM, Michele Neylon - Blacknight <
michele at blacknight.com<mailto:michele at blacknight.com>> wrote:
> Susan
>
> Is region defined?
> I'm in Ireland so obviously I know which country I'm in :-)
> But in relation to "region" would that mean Europe?
>
> Sorry if that's a dumb question
>
> Regards
>
> Michele
>
> ------------------------
> Mr. Michele Neylon
> Blacknight
> http://Blacknight.tel
>
> Via iPhone so excuse typos and brevity
>
> On 10 Jul 2014, at 21:46, "Susan Chalmers" <susan at susanchalmers.com<mailto:susan at susanchalmers.com>>
> wrote:
>
> Greetings, everyone,
>
> Thank you to those who joined us on the call today. It was a productive
> and helpful discussion. As mentioned, we will follow up with a summary that
> outlines the three-part framing of the issue, (human capacity, technical
> infrastructure, legal frameworks), which will inform the general definition
> of what "local content" is.
>
> We are now onto our second part of the discussion, during which we
> solicit information on regional specificities. Below are a few thoughts to
> get us started. I invite everyone on this list to enrich these simple
> beginnings with facts, references, and brief explanations putting these
> into context. Please add to the list under one or more of the three areas -
> you are very welcome to ask and answer your own questions. This section of
> the document will describe the state of Internet industry development in
> the countries represented.
>
> Area 1 - Human Capacities
>
> - To what extent do people in your country/region have the digital
> skills needed to create content/identify and access local content?
> - Are web accessibility standards observed, promoted, missing in your
> country/region? Is local government information accessible on the web for
> the blind or print-disabled, for example?
> - To what degree do people in your country/region have access to, or
> what is the affordability of, ICT devices with applications for creating
> content?
> - ....
>
> Area 2 - Technical Infrastructure
>
> - How many IXPs are in the your country/region?
> - What is the broadband penetration rate?
> - What is the local hosting market like in your country/region? Do
> people have their local content hosted abroad? Where?
> - ....
>
> Area 3 - Legal Frameworks
>
> - What is the state of ISP competition and regulation in the
> country/region?
> - What inspires people in your country/region to create?
> - What are the legal restrictions on content in your country/region?
> - ....
>
> Many thanks everyone in advance for sharing your contributions, and we
> look forward to continuing this discussion. Please feel free to contact me
> off list with questions in English or French.
>
> Sincere regards,
> Susan
>
> --
> Susan Chalmers
> Consultant, Internet Policy
>
> +1 269 324 4101<tel:%2B1%20269%20324%204101>
> www.susanchalmers.com<http://www.susanchalmers.com>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
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>
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>
>
--
Susan Chalmers
Consultant, Internet Policy
+1 269 324 4101<tel:%2B1%20269%20324%204101>
www.susanchalmers.com<http://www.susanchalmers.com>
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--
Susan Chalmers
Consultant, Internet Policy

+1 269 324 4101
www.susanchalmers.com<http://www.susanchalmers.com>
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