Re: Money Matters Re: The AfriNIC Business Plan V.0

["Dr. Nii N Quaynor" <quaynor at ghana.com>]

Brian,

Its good. we have narrowed down the larger issue to initial pricing of
services. As much as we all believe we would like to see lower prices for
services, its still better to start life with known pricing, captive
customers (revenue ... thanks to ripe) and evolve it lower. hence how low
the price gets is a collective decision of membership as afrinic becomes
successful.

if its not acceptable, I entreat you to construct a suggestion? on the other
hand agreeing to the principle of START, then LOWER prices still seems more
progressive and prudent. it captures your goal of lower prices. you may
consider a staged approach for lowering the prices on certain conditions
achieved etc.

I think the example of ISPKenya does not help the argument much since 4000
euros a year is relatively small compared to several hundreds of Euro you
pay for e.g.. bandwidth to upstream provider and therefore that could not be
considered as a show stopper for startup business plan of afrinic to go
forward.

I am asking you guys to kick-start the process and include these noble
objectives e.g.. of better pricing as we make progress through refinements.
pricing can be fixed but delays are tough to fix.

Regards,
Nii
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Longwe <blongwe at psg.com>
To: Dr. Nii N Quaynor <quaynor at ghana.com>
Cc: <dzidonu at ghana.com>; <afnog at afnog.org>; <africann at lists.gh>;
<afrinic-discuss at afrinic.org>; <committee at afrinic.org>
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2001 3:44 PM
Subject: Money Matters Re: The AfriNIC Business Plan V.0


> 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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