[2938] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: topological closeness....
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Enzo Michelangeli)
Wed May 15 23:52:35 1996
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 11:42:34 +0800 (HKT)
From: Enzo Michelangeli <enzo@ima.com>
To: Geoff Huston <gih@aarnet.edu.au>
cc: Paul Ferguson <pferguso@cisco.com>, davidc@apnic.net,
sanjay@professionals.com, avg@postman.ncube.com, nanog@merit.edu,
local-ir@apnic.net
In-Reply-To: <199605152057.GAA09434@nico.aarnet.edu.au>
On Thu, 16 May 1996, Geoff Huston wrote:
> Paul,
>
> You can be a vocal as you desire, but ultimately from this part of the
> globe the dominant factor in any ISP business is the cost of the
> International Private Lease. This lease cost is approximately 10 times
> the cost of domestic infrastructure.
>
> Now when you construct an IPL in a competitive environment where do
> you terminate it? Generally you are loking for an optimal mix of price
> and functionality. The observation for the AP region today is that the
> cheapest IPL half circuits for the AP region terminate in the
> US. Hence Randy's observation. The internal infrastructure within the
> AP region happens in a second pass, once the primary objective of
> major connectivity is achieved internal infrastructure can be cost
> effective if there is internal traffic flow to match.
>
> About the only thing that could hasten regional infrastructure is a
> drastic revision of the trading practices and expectation of return on
> investment by the undersea cable investors. Exchange points have
> little impact per se as they are, in economic terms, a minor aspect of
> the entire equation.
Exactly. And all the regional governments should realize that the best way
of shifting traffic from North America to their region is de-regulating
the international telecommunications market, scrapping monopolies and
increasing competition among carriers. That will result much more
effective than policy-making and verbal "declarations of independence".
Enzo
