[afnog] Challenges in the African Continent

[SM]

At 22:45 28-03-2009, Mark Tinka wrote:
>Is this a rhetorical question?

My question is about determining whether there is a business case for 
additional bandwidth.  If there isn't any demand, the ISPs won't 
recoup their cost.

>Do you mean regional for comparison between HK and other
>Asian countries + between African countries?

Hong Kong is next to China.  That country has a sizable market.  I'm 
not including other Asian countries as there are cultural barriers to 
take into account.  We cannot consider Africa as one region as the 
continent is not one homogenous group.  It would be more appropriate 
to consider cultural and geographic factors as well as inter-connectivity.

>I'm guessing the OP is aware the problem isn't unique to
>Africa, but perhaps that its scale might be slightly
>compounded.

One of the disadvantages of Africa is that it has English and French 
speaking countries.  In my opinion, such markets tend to access 
content that is outside the region.  The continent does have some 
advantages.  For example, it has not yet experienced an explosion in 
connectivity.  It is a nascent market.

>Is this a rhetorical question?

This is the Internet after all.  Locality isn't the determining 
factor.  We should analyze whether it makes business sense to host 
locally.  That encompasses more than the financial aspect.

Regards,
-sm