The document discusses barriers to internet availability and adoption. It summarizes research from the Internet Society showing that costs and lack of locally relevant content are major barriers. Costs are high due to roadblocks to infrastructure investment, while interest is low without content in local languages and about local locations. The document then discusses barriers in more depth, identifying issues with regulations, rights-of-way access, taxation, and lack of local hosting inflating costs and reducing performance of local content. Developing local internet exchange points and promoting local content hosting are recommended to lower costs and increase adoption.

1. www.internetsociety.org
Barriers to Internet availability and adoption
Interconnection, Access, and Infrastructure Analysis
Bishkek, 28 April 2015

2. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Introduction
2
Availability and adoption of Internet depend on costs
and content
 Costs: barriers to infrastructure investment raise cost of
increasing availability
 Content: must be locally relevant to increase interest and
adoption
Highlight recent Internet Society research
 Unleashing the Potential of the Internet for ASEAN Economies,
2015
 Promoting Local Content Hosting to Develop the Internet
Ecosystem, 2015
 Global Internet Report, Open and Sustainable Access for All, 2014
 Lifting barriers to Internet development in Africa: suggestions for
improving connectivity, May 2013

3. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 20143
The digital divide is not binary
Cannot have Internet:
“no computer/internet”
“too expensive”
Could have Internet:
“no interest/not useful”
“don’t know how to use/confused”
“no time”
World Internet
Project polled non-
adopters for reasons
Source: Internet Society
Global Internet Report 2014

4. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Internet availability has benefited from the widespread
availability of cellular
4
 Mobile broadband coverage is
high in many countries
– Cellular coverage grew quickly
in many countries, leapfrogging
fixed
– Offering Internet is not a
significant upgrade on voice
 Price remains a critical factor
– In 2013 Mobile Broadband cost
10% of average income
– This owes to a number of
factors along the value chain
 Availability of local content is
also an issue
Source: ITU, Budde
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Cellular
Coverage
3G
Coverage
Internet
Users
Mobile
Broadband
Fixed
Broadband
PopulationPenetration
Availability and Adoption in Kyrgyzstan

5. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Barriers to availability and adoption
Supply-Side (availability)
 Why are costs too high?
 Investment roadblocks
– Regulations
– Rights-of-way access
– Taxation
Demand-Side (adoption)
 Why is interest too low?
 Locally relevant content
– Language
– Location
– Support
5

6. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
The Internet value chain contains multiple links
6
 Internet access service results from international and national
connectivity along with last mile access
 There are many points at which a policy shortfall could increase
the price of Internet service and thereby lower access
 This is true in spite of significant investments in recent years
across the value chain
Source: Lifting barriers to Internet development in Africa

7. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
International connectivity is increasing rapidly
7 Source: TeleGeography

8. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Terrestrial connectivity is moving in from coasts
8
Source: ESCAP

9. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Domestic connectivity also increasing
9

10. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
The cost of International IP transit is critical in
countries where there is little local content
10 Source: Terabit Consulting
Impact of high IP
transit cost
 Expensive per MB
charges for broadband
 Underprovision of transit
leading to congestion
 Low amounts of
bandwidth per person
An IXP can reduce
reliance on expensive
IP transit
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Bandwidthinkbpsperpseron
IPTransit$/Mbps/month
IP Transit International bandwidth

11. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
A successful IXP can have a big impact on the
ecosystem
11
An IXP can eliminate
tromboning
An IXP can act as a
magnet for content
ISP 4
ISP 1 ISP 2
IXP evolution
No IXP IXP ‘spoke’ IXP ‘hub’
IXP
ISP 3
IXP
Content
provider
International
ISP 4
ISP 1 ISP 2
Country A
ISP 3
IXP
Content
provider
International
ISP 4
ISP 2
ISP 1
IXP
ISP 3
IXP
International
Content
provider
Country A Country A

12. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
The benefits of the IXPs are broadly felt in Kenya
and Nigeria
12
Benefit KIXP IXPN Summary
Latency Reduced from 200–600ms
to 2–10ms
Reduced from 200–400ms
to
2–10ms
Noticeable increase in
performance for end users
Local traffic
exchange
1Gbit/s peak 300Mbit/s peak Savings on international
transit of over $1 million per
annum in each country
Content Google network present
locally, along with
rehoming of domestic
content
Same as in Kenya Increase in usage and
corresponding revenues for
mobile data traffic
e-government Kenya Revenue Authority
gathers taxes online
Usage by education and
research networks
Social benefits from e-
government access to IXPs
Other benefits An increasing amount of
regional traffic exchanged
at KIXP
Financial platforms hosted
locally
Further economic benefits
resulting from IXPs

13. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Barriers may exist across many domains
13
 Telecom regulation
– Competition at the international gateway is important – open access
is preferred to allow sharing of infrastructure
– Even where there is competition, the cost of the license must be
reasonable
 Rights-of-way
– Cost and bureaucracy of access for laying fiber may be significant
– Few countries allow sharing of existing networks (e.g. roads,
railroad, etc.)
 Equipment import
– This can add significant time and cost to deployment
– For instance an import duty of 15-25% in Zambia

14. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Barriers to availability and adoption
Supply-Side (availability)
 Why are costs too high?
 Investment roadblocks
– Regulations
– Rights-of-way access
– Taxation
Demand-Side (adoption)
 Why is interest too low?
 Locally relevant content
– Language
– Location
– Support
14

15. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 201415
Language is a significant issue, and English
remains over-represented
Source: Internet Society Global Internet Report 2014

16. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Local hosting of content is critical
16
As access infrastructure is more available, and there is a
well-functioning IXP, content infrastructure is important
In general there are three related points on local content:
 Most, if not all, developing countries already have local content,
typically provided by local newspapers, radio stations, and other
businesses and individuals.
 This content tends to be hosted abroad, even when there are local
data centers that could be used.
 The performance of these websites is often poor, dampening potential
usage.
We conducted a study on local content hosting in Rwanda to
show the impacts

17. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Status quo
17
Local
ISP
Local
Overseas
Data
Centre
Users
Latency:
high
$ Hosting
cost:
low
$$$ Transit
costs:
high
Local
ISP
Content
Developer
International
Carrier
International
Carrier
Hosting abroad
imposes a
negative
externality on
local ISPs

18. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Impact of hosting content locally
18
Local
ISP
Data
centre
Local
Users
IXP
Latency:
lower
$
Usage:
greater
$ Hosting
cost:
higher
Transit
costs:
lower
Content
Developer
Local
ISP
$
Content
developers
must have an
incentive to
bear additional
cost

19. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Local
ISP
Local
Overseas
International
Carrier
Users
9 Mbps peak
$13,500 / year ave
~$0 in RW
= $13,500 costs /
year ave
8GB website
$149.99 in US
$261 in RW
= $111 savings
per year (in US)
Content
Developer
Local
ISP
Data
Centre
International
Carrier
Quantifying the negative externality

20. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Ranking Website Hosting
Location
From
Bishkek
1 Google.com Russia 58ms
3 Elcat.kg Bishkek 2.5ms
4 Mail.ru Russia 63ms
5 Facebook.com Washington 199ms
9 Ts.kg Bishkek 2.72ms
12 Wikipedia.org ? 192ms
23 Kinogo.net ? 98ms
31 Valuta.kg ? 265ms
Latency is also a significant issue for overseas
content
Source: Dyn, ISOC

21. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Latency Impacts User Engagement and Use
21
Impact on on-line
gaming usage in
Uganda when
GamersNights
platform moved to a
locally routed server
200ms reduction =
~200% more use
Impact on RINEX
when Google Global
Cache implemented
in 2013:
Traffic increased x4
and user experience
increased

22. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Akamai place a server in
Rwanda during our
project
Before: 90% below
500 kpbs throughput
After: 50% of users
increased throughput
above 500 kbps and
5% in excess of 20
Mbps
As performance improved,
usage doubled within three
months
Akamai results
Increased page views key to
convince content developers to
increase hosting costs

23. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Barriers to more local content
23
Lack of awareness of impact of hosting abroad and data
measurement
Local choices for hosting not meeting needs of local
market in fact or perception
Data centre capabilities for hosting and security
Legal and policy clarity regarding liability for local
content
Support for entrepreneurs to develop more local content

24. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Conclusion
As mobile networks leap-frog fixed ones in developing
countries, availability is outpacing adoption
 The cost of service is clearly still an issue
– roadblocks may hinder private infrastructure investment
– local IXP critical to lower cost of traffic exchange and attract content
 While the Internet allows for access to global Internet, the
availability of locally relevant content is critical
– content hosted abroad significantly increases costs
– hosting content locally lowers latency and cost
Create
enabling
environment
for
connectivity
Develop IXP
for traffic
exchange
Promote local
content
hosting

25. Expert Forum | 8 Sept 2014
Next steps
25
Create
enabling
environment
for
connectivity
Develop IXP
for traffic
exchange
Promote local
content
hosting
Data needs:
• Current and future
connectivity (intl.
and domestic)
• Rates
• Traffic
Understanding of
roadblocks to more
connectivity and
lower prices
Data needs:
• Traffic
• Membership
• Prices
Understanding of
roadblocks to more
members and usage
Data needs:
• Location of content
• Domestic traffic
generated
• Local and foreign
data center rates
• Latency
measurements
Understanding of
roadblocks to more
local hosting and
creation

26. www.internetsociety.org
kende@isoc.org
Michael Kende
Chief Economist
palovirta@isoc.org
Maarit Palovirta
Manager, European Regional Affairs
coffin@isoc.org
Jane Coffin
Director, Development Strategy