Money Matters Re: The AfriNIC Business Plan V.0

[Brian Longwe <blongwe at psg.com>]

On Fri, 28 Sep 2001 13:14:46 +0100
"Dr. Nii N Quaynor" <quaynor at ghana.com> wrote:

> here are my review of the plan based on your observations. in all, i think
> its a reasonable effort from the ground and we should support it. try to
> adopt a version of it and proceed. plans do get revised.

agreed, in fact I am very happy to see *something* happenning

> 
> 1. pricing for service: at incubation in ripe, the immediately accessible
> lir's will be the existing customers of ripe who are already gaining service
> at those prices. hence the wise plan is start with those prices and explore
> ways to lower service prices with new membership, efficiency, allocation
> strategy etc. seeking grants and support are not a healthy way to develop a
> self-sustaining registry. in anycase, i have lobbyied in many fora for help
> but i am yet to see the ready funding from the major players you anticipate.
> one cannot build a business on verbal commitments. i recommend we try to do
> it ourselves and when we get help we do more. the tables show a plan to
> modestly source $25K+ a year from multilateral agencies and other donors so
> this might not be a big issue ie. if we raise $100K we expand accordingly. i
> have a feeling that raising the proposed $25K may not be as easy as it
> seems.

I'm sorry to say but I still disagree. This is a *fundamental* point. Let me be a little more candid... 

ISPKenya started the RIPE LIR process many months ago. The invoice for initial services came in at slightly over 4000 euros. The financial controller almost collapsed when I asked him to pay. I went back to RIPE and negotiated to pay in quarterly installments, the invoce came to slightly over 2500 euros, since then I have been unable to convince the financial people to fork up the money to pay for the address space. And still have to go on my knees to my three upstream providers begging for more address space. (I am currently using a full /21 of space and have just requested an additional /22) Not to mention the nightmare of  coordinating address space from three different sources.

ISPKenya is not a small ISP by Kenyan standards, we are among the more "successful" ISPs but due to the limited nature of the market and the plunging economy, have to watch the bottom line very closely. In other words, the Financial Controller has (almost) absolute authority. Truth is, we live and operate in a developing country. I know this is true of many other operators in other countries, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda...through personal interaction with their CEOs.

AFRINIC WILL EITHER RISE OR FALL BASED ON WHAT THE CHARGES FOR MEMBERSHIP AND SERVICE ARE.

I agree that the procedures, standards of operation and policies that RIPE holds are admirable - and we should emulate and mirror their excellence as much as possible, but we must also realise that we live in a (totally) different world and must try not to be like the Joneses and live within our means.

It has been indicated that the existing LIRs can continue to pay what they have been used to paying...fine... but that makes Afrinic an elitist club where only the "big guns" can get address space. (BTW I wouldn't be surprised if it's the big guns who are pushing this approach because that leaves them on better footing.)

No ISP in Africa is in this thing for charity, profit is the motivator. what would stop me from simply getting my address space from ARIN or RIPE because I like them better if AFRINIC charges the same fees (if I could afford it)?

Deciding at this late stage to charge the same as RIPE or ARIN has the potential of breaking down the level of consensus that has taken many years of hard work to build among the operators.

If we're going to do it, let's do it right. I hope that as the Business and Financial Committee draws up their plans they take keen note of these comments and make sure that they prove us proud.

Many regards,

Longwe


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