Promoting Local Content Hosting to Develop the Internet Ecosystem, A Case Study of Rwanda
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Transcript of Promoting Local Content Hosting to Develop the Internet Ecosystem, A Case Study of Rwanda
www.internetsociety.org
Promoting Local Content Hosting to Develop the Internet Ecosystem March 2015
Local Content Hosting
Introduction
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As access infrastructure is more available, focus turning to local content
Noticed 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. The performance of these websites is often poor..
• Most IXP connections in Africa are between access networks, few content networks.
Used Rwanda as a case study, in partnership with the Rwandan ICT Ministry and Rwandan ICT Association (RICTA)
Local Content Hosting
Most Consumption Still International and Costly:Capacity Costs to Europe per Mbps/Month in USD
95+% of African Internet consumptions is international
Source: Analysys Mason/ISOC
~$650
~$50
~$125
Local Content Hosting 4
Starting point: Top RW commercial websites all hosted abroad Top 20 Website Server Location 1. IGIHE www.igihe.com United States 2. Umuseke www.umuseke.rw United States 3. Kigali Today www.kigalitoday.com United States 4. Umuryango www.umuryango.com United States 5. Inyarwanda www.inyarwanda.com United States 6. Tohoza www.tohoza.com Switzerland 7. The New Times www.newtimes.co.rw United States 8. Imali www.imali.biz United States 9. Rwanda Directorate General of
Immigration and Emigrationwww.migration.gov.rw Rwanda
10. University of Rwanda www.nur.ac.rw Rwanda 11. College of Science and Technology,
University of Rwandawww.kist.ac.rw Rwanda
12. Rwanda Broadcasting Agency www.orinfor.gov.rw/ www.rab.co.rw Rwanda
13. Living in Kigali www.livinginkigali.com United States 14. Ubugingo www.ubugingo.com United States15. Rumalex www.rumalex.net Germany 16. Zion Temple www.ziontemple.rbm.tv United States 17. Job in Rwanda www.jobinrwanda.com France 18. Rwanda National Police www.police.gov.rw Rwanda 19. Rwanda Revenue Authority www.rra.gov.rw Rwanda 20. YEGO Rwanda www.yegorwanda.net United States
Source: Top 20, RICTA, 2014; Server Location, ip2location.com
Local Content Hosting
Study: Three Areas of Investigation
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Economic/Business
• Costs of local hosting solution versus status quo (for local and international content) and business drivers
Legal/Policy
• Issues that would inhibit local hosting, including intermediate liability, copyright, or lack of certainty.
Technical/Skills
• Quality of local hosting environment, skills, technology availability, connections to ISPs and IXP
Local Content Hosting
Status quo
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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
Local Content Hosting
Impact of hosting content locally
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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
Local Content Hosting
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
Local Content Hosting
Website IP Address Hosting Location
From Europe
(Stockholm)
From Rwanda (Kigali)
Peak Readings Rwanda
(Kigali, PM)
rra.gov.rw 197.243.16.110 Rwanda 199.7 9.3 10.5 rba.co.rw 197.243.16.110 Rwanda 200 7.7 9.2 ricta.org.rw 41.74.173.252 Rwanda 199.8 4.6 6.3 tohoza.com 80.80.228.26 Switzerland 44.4 309.9
800-1000
6-22% packet
loss
igihe.com 142.4.9.39 USA 160.7 378.7 jobinrwanda.com 154.41.67.10 France 34.6 243.8 newtimes.co.rw 198.154.233.8 USA 165 397.3
Government Services and NRENs are often anchor content tenants,
but more bits need to be local
Latency is also a significant issue for overseas content
Local Content Hosting
Latency Impacts User Engagement and Use
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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
Local Content Hosting
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
Local Content Hosting
Initial Findings: Economic/Business Getting Supply and Demand Sides to Meet
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• Costs of data center operations higher than in the US/Europe
• Power costs, additional backup and redundancy requirements, Lower economies of scale due to less content and volume etc.
• Website developers are price sensitive and customer oriented. Place emphasis on low hosting costs, high up-time, and 24/7 customer service.
• Very low cost options available overseas, including “free” package offers, advanced services
• Perception on the part of website developers that US/European hosting services are “better” and more reliable than Rwandan services.
Local Content Hosting
Data Centers Flying with Empty Seats
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Local data centers traditionally focused on “First/Business Class” customers (e.g. banks, corporates) • Data centers in Rwanda have capacity • Just like an airplane, costs are incurred even if the
data center flies with “empty seats.” • Growth potential in marketing to smaller websites/
web developers/aggregators. • Need to grow “Economy Class” hosting packages
Smaller websites should look and ask data centers for local “economy class” hosting offers: • ~80% traffic for smaller websites is coming to
Rwanda in any case • Lower latency will improve customer experience,
content engagement, and uptake. • No protection from cable outages if sites are only
overseas, local mirroring also a consideration
Local Content Hosting 14
• Interviewees expressed clarity in understanding of legal issues, licensing / regulatory requirements, and limitations / responsibilities for speech
• Presence of Google Global Cache and interest in Rwanda by Content Delivery Networks are good signs!
• International providers weigh legal / policy issues heavily in their decisions to provide in-country delivery
• Passage of legislation explicitly limiting intermediary liability would be an additional advantage for countries such as Rwanda.
Initial Findings: Legal/Policy • Legal/Policy issues not raised as a barrier
to local hosting or data center operations
Local Content Hosting
Initial Findings: Technical/Skills
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• Some webs developers question level of local hosting skills and reliability.
• Need to separate perception from reality.
• Evaluate skill sets in key data center operations layers, including: Physical, Operating Systems, and Software/Applications
• More consistency needed in data collection and analysis by both network providers and website developers.
• Professionally run IXP in Rwanda – but needs more local content flowing through it
• Quality data centers in Rwanda, additional investment anticipated
• No significant barriers reported on ability to acquire technology for data centers/local hosting, but more costly.
Local Content Hosting 16
Policy/Legal
Technical/ Skills
Economic/Business
Hate speech legislation, but not a driving concern to content developers
Regulatory and legal environment more straightforward than many African countries.
Working on intermediary liability clarification
Positive role in convening stakeholders
Cost and customer service the primary drivers of hosting decisions; Alexa Rankings
Little awareness in market of the impact latency on user experience, or that they could impact it
Data centers focusing on large customers, ignoring aggregators and minnows
Challenging economics for data centers
Under provisioning of international capacity (expensive)
Little traffic data collection and analysis by both service providers and web developers (eg. NetFlows data, website latency tests, etc.)
Perception that local hosting companies lack skills, security (truth vs reality?)
Good IX, but not promoting achievements, impacts.
Other Observations of Note
Local Content Hosting 17
Category Recommendations General Conduct multi-stakeholder local content forums to raise awareness
on local hosting benefits, discuss issues, and identify market solutions Promote wider implementation of data measurement tools and techniques by relevant stakeholders, including ISPs and content developers
Economic/Business
Match the needs of the Rwandan content market, particularly the growing market in smaller websites Greater focus by content developers on the performance and potential business benefits of local hosting, in addition to cost considerations
Technical/Skills Development of partnerships with government or industry bodies to ensure training for data-centre employees is complete and up to date Greater advertising of existing and new local data-centre capabilities
Policy/Legal Continuing to ensure legal and policy clarity for local content developers, hosting providers, content delivery networks, and other relevant stakeholders Promoting local content development as a government policy priority
Local Content Hosting
• Most IXP connections in Africa are between eyeball networks
• Estimated 85,000 m2 raised floor datacenter capacity in Africa (~35% of London)
• Few Carrier Neutral Data Centers • Opportunities to develop infrastructure
• CDN Caches/PoPs in emerging economies have big impact and grow the market. More demand in Africa than you might think!
Localized content in Africa is key to growth
www.internetsociety.org
[email protected] [email protected]
Michael Kende Karen Rose Chief Economist Senior Director
Thank you!