Re: Tanzanian ISPs move closer to establishing an Internet exchange

[Brian Candler <B.Candler at pobox.com>]

On Wed, May 14, 2003 at 09:08:11AM +0200, antonio at nambu.uem.mz wrote:
> I don't know about numbers but I know that we aren't profiting from 
> it and the satellite providers are overprofiting to such an extent that 
> now you get thousands of satellite providers coming to you 
> everyday to offer you their services. They get a transponder which 
> will take up to 45Mbps of traffic, they will sell portions of 1Mbps, 
> 2Mbps, 5Mpbs and make a huge profit on that transponder. As I am 
> told, a transponder costs about US$45,000.00 a month and they 
> charge as much as US$15,000.00 for 2Mbps. So per transponder 
> they can get as much as US$360,000.00 a month..... That's what I 
> am told....

Sounds like there is scope for a consortium of smaller African ISPs to buy a
transponder and divide the bandwidth (and costs) between its members - if
there is sufficient trust between them to achieve this.

It does sound like these resellers are making excessive profits, but then
again they are also taking some risks. If a client ISP folds or stops paying
their bills, then the reseller ends up paying for the segment anyway; they
also pay for unused portions on the transponder.

Cheers,

Brian.

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