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

["William Stucke" <William at zanet.co.za>]

I have to agree with Brian on the funding issue. We are not creating AfriNIC
for political reasons - "We're as good as you, so we can have our own
Registry". We're creating it primarily because we need something that is
APPROPRIATE to AFRICAN needs. These needs are primarily the following: -

1	Smaller allocations of IP addresses
2	Lower costs

Both of these derive from the fact that all African ISPs operate in a low
margin, high cost, third world environment and are consequently much smaller
that US or European ISPs.

Brian has given a good list of donors. I have spoken to some of them, and
they are certainly willing to assist. We will, however, have to provide them
with a proper Funding Proposal, which of course means that we have to
complete a proper Business Plan, as that will form part of the Proposal.

To add to the list of potential donors: The South African Department of
Communications has, in conversation with myself and others, indicated their
probable willingness to: -

1	Host the RIR in SA
2	Fund the entire local operating cost.

The costs that Brian has proposed are significantly lower than RIPE and
ARIN, which is good. My personal preference is that they should be lower
still - half that, if at all possible ;-)

We are addressing two markets: -

A	African ISPs that don't yet have IP or ASN allocations from either ARIN or
RIPE, primarily because they're too small to be able to afford either the
fees or justify the IP space
B	Existing larger African ISPs that do have existing allocations. In order
to induce them to change, we have to offer a significant incentive.
Renumbering networks is a VERY expensive activity, and even for new
allocations they WILL perceive a risk that AfriNIC will work, and keep on
working reliably.

Speaking of which, it appears that ARIN is currently down!

Regards,

William Stucke
ZAnet Internet Services (Pty) Ltd
mailto:William at zanet.co.za
+27 11 465-0700


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-afnog at uol.co.ug [mailto:owner-afnog at uol.co.ug]On Behalf Of
Brian Longwe
Sent: 2001/09/28 21:31
To: Dr. Nii N Quaynor
Cc: dzidonu at ghana.com; afnog at afnog.org; africann at lists.gh;
afrinic-discuss at afrinic.org; committee at afrinic.org
Subject: Re: Money Matters Re: The AfriNIC Business Plan V.0


On Fri, 28 Sep 2001 15:31:43 +0100
"Dr. Nii N Quaynor" <quaynor at ghana.com> wrote:

> 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 will take the opportunity to make a suggestion......

OK, here's a bold proposal, but one that is based on discussions that took
place during both AFRINIC 2001 and AFRINIC 2000

Assumptions

(A) AFRINIC has no existing LIRs. All 'existing' LIRs on the continent
either receive address space from RIPE and/or ARIN and have entered into
separate contractual arrangements with the same.

(B) Part of the AFRINIC process/plan is developing a plan for transition of
existing continental LIR's that are already receiving services from RIPE and
ARIN.

This plan has to take into consideration the following:

1) The LIR's decision to "move" from RIPE/ARIN to AFRINIC is voluntary i.e.
it is up to the LIR to decide whether or not they are moving. (Ways can be
found of "motivating" them to move.)

2) A clear set of procedures for the transition is laid out. This should
encompass:

- financial considerations e.g if the LIR has paid for 12 months but only
received service for 2 and is planning to move by the 4th month, does RIPE
transfer the relevant funds to AFRINIC or does the LIR stay with RIPE until
the end of the 12 month periond and *then* move?

- technical considerations; does the move constitute a change in address
space? This can be quite painful for LIRs who have exhausted or are close to
exhausting their allocation/assignment window.

- legal considerations; what has to happen at a contractual level to make
sure that the liabilities of all parties (RIPE, ARIN, AFRINIC, LIR) are kept
as low as possible while protecting respective rights?

(B) Due to the varying nature and preferences of existing LIR's it is
necessary to set up a standard set of procedures and fees that will
constitute AFRINIC's "Billing Procedure and Fee Schedule" (borrowing from
RIPE ;-). These are the procedures and fees that will be applied to all
*NEW* AFRINIC LIR's (as there are no existing LIRs - all LIRs will be
"new").

(C) AFRINIC's initial fee structure will reflect the organisation's
commitment to creating an environment for early and rapid
adoption/transition by the ISPs (Members).

Proposal

Based on the foregoing assumptions, it is proposed that AFRINIC adopt a
policy and fee structure that is commensurate with the environment and
circumstances on the continent.

Since it is the stated intention to model AFRINIC's operations and policies
along similar lines to those of RIPE, the fee schedule will address the same
categories of members i.e small, medium and large

PROPOSED FEE SCHEDULE

Setup

$1,000

Annual Charge

SMALL   $1,000
MEDIUM  $1,750
LARGE   $3,000


Conclusion

Being a new organisation, it will take some time before revenues can cover
operating costs. To this end, it is proposed that the first 2-3 years budget
be met through grants/donations from developmental funds earmarked for
Africa. Among potential donors:


- DFID
- USAID
- German Govt.
- Dutch Govt
- European Union
- G8 - "Dot Force"
- CTO
- Francophonie
- ATU
- OAU/AU

The objective would be to attain full financial independence towards the 2nd
year of operation.

Part of the budget should include an aggressive outreach/marketing campaign
to engage members. Given reasonable success, the projected goals should be
attained within 12-18 months of operation.

Thanks,

Longwe

-----
This is the afnog mailing list, managed by Majordomo 1.94.4

To send a message to this list, e-mail afnog at afnog.org
To send a request to majordomo, e-mail majordomo at afnog.org and put
your request in the body of the message (i.e use "help" for help)

This list is maintained by owner-afnog at afnog.org


---

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.282 / Virus Database: 150 - Release Date: 25/09/2001


-----
This is the afnog mailing list, managed by Majordomo 1.94.5

To send a message to this list, e-mail afnog at afnog.org
To send a request to majordomo, e-mail majordomo at afnog.org and put
your request in the body of the message (i.e use "help" for help)

This list is maintained by owner-afnog at afnog.org