27 March 2002, KL Issue 2

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Why the Internet leaves Africa out in the cold...

Dr Nii Quaynor (53) is a man with razor-sharp articulateness and makes a blunt case that Africa is simply being left out of the supposedly "global" Internet. Frederick Noronha speaks to the ICANN board member and a private sector representative on UN Secretary General Kofi Anan's ICT Task Force. Excerpts:

Q: To begin, what is the level of African participation on the Net?

Generally, African participation is very low. There are many reasons for this.
One reason could be that (issues that decide the future of the Net) are highly technical issues. We don't have that many technical people (who have the time).

One argument is that it anyway doesn't matter to us, since we're anyway not using these things now. But then, all this is unpredictable and thus causes anxiety.

Q: Why do you say Africans pay a heavy price for getting onto the Net?

The way the Net has traditionally worked is that somebody with knowledge starts building his own network, where he starts providing services within network. When he reaches a certain size, it's in his interest to cooperate with other more global parties.

When that happens, you must connect your network with the global network. So you're responsible for the wire (or the wireless) which takes you from your nework to all the way where you think you need it to attach you to the global network.

Which means, you're responsible for the cost of the entire pipe.

For instance, if you're in New York, running an ISP , you might have to go only to Virigina. Costs are much much lower. If you're in Africa or Asia, you have much higher cost to bring your people to that network.

We are people with low incomes, yet we end up subsidising the use of the global community for the sharing of information. They end up sharing this info for free.

We need to find some cost-sharing method. Otherwise I'd rather move to New York and build my network there.

This whole structure favours countries who already have strong networks, because everyone comes and connects to you. The poor should not be subsidising the use of the wealthy. At the minimum, they should pay a fair market price.

One argument is that people in the US also use the network in the US. But the cost of networking in the US is much lower than the cost for me to bring my network to join the US network.

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