topological closeness....

Thu May 16 03:42:34 UTC 1996

On Thu, 16 May 1996, Geoff Huston wrote:

> Paul,
> 
> You can be a vocal as you desire, but ultimately from this part of the
> globe the dominant factor in any ISP business is the cost of the
> International Private Lease. This lease cost is approximately 10 times
> the cost of domestic infrastructure.
> 
> Now when you construct an IPL in a competitive environment where do
> you terminate it? Generally you are loking for an optimal mix of price
> and functionality. The observation for the AP region today is that the
> cheapest IPL half circuits for the AP region terminate in the
> US. Hence Randy's observation. The internal infrastructure within the
> AP region happens in a second pass, once the primary objective of
> major connectivity is achieved internal infrastructure can be cost
> effective if there is internal traffic flow to match.
> 
> About the only thing that could hasten regional infrastructure is a
> drastic revision of the trading practices and expectation of return on
> investment by the undersea cable investors. Exchange points have
> little impact per se as they are, in economic terms, a minor aspect of
> the entire equation.

Exactly. And all the regional governments should realize that the best way
of shifting traffic from North America to their region is de-regulating
the international telecommunications market, scrapping monopolies and
increasing competition among carriers. That will result much more
effective than policy-making and verbal "declarations of independence". 

Enzo