Africa Tertiary Institutions Connectivity Survey. Preliminary Insights. Sept 2004

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Rodney Dawson
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1 Africa Tertiary Institutions Connectivity Survey Preliminary Insights Sept 2004

2 Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction Location of Respondents Type of Connectivity at African Tertiary Institutions Capacity of Connection in African Tertiary Institutions Institutions with Committed Information Rates Institutions with Burstable Capacity Type of Internet Service Providers in African Tertiary Institutions Length of Bandwidth Contracts Cost of Bandwidth per month Cost per Kbps VSAT Use Percentage with VSAT License Cost of Non-Free VSAT Licenses Cost /Kbps of VSAT versus Land connectivity types Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.7 Networked Computers Bandwidth per Networked Computer Monitoring Bandwidth Usage Bandwidth Management 13

5 Cost of Bandwidth per month 7 1.5.1 Cost per Kbps 8 1.6 VSAT Use 10 1.6.1 Percentage with VSAT License 10 1.6.2 Cost of Non-Free VSAT Licenses 10 1.6.3 Cost /Kbps of VSAT versus Land connectivity types Error!

3 List of Charts Chart 1.1 Location of Respondents...4 Chart 1.2 Type of Connectivity use by Institutions to link to ISPs...4 Chart 1.3 Average Capacity of Connection...5 Chart 1.4 Maximum Capacity of Connection...Error! Bookmark not defined. Chart 1.5 Minimum Capacity of Connection...Error! Bookmark not defined. Chart 1.6 Percentage of Respondents with a Committed Information Rate... 5 Chart Average Kbps for Institutions with CIR vs those without CIR...6 Chart 1.7 Percentage of Respondents with Burstable Capacity...6 Chart 1.8 Type of Internet Service Providers...7 Chart 1.9 Average Length of Bandwidth Contracts...7 Chart 1.10 Average cost of bandwidth/month...7 Chart 1.11 Average cost per Kbps per month...9 Chart 1.12 Percentage with VSAT...10 Chart 1.13 Percentage with VSAT Licenses...10 Chart 1.14 Cost of Non-free VSAT Licenses...10 Chart 1.14 Cost/Kbps of VSAT Versus Land Connectivity.. Error! Bookmark not defined. Chart 1.15 Average number of Networked Computers...12 Chart 1.16 Average bandwidth per Networked Computer...12 Chart 1.17 Do you monitor your bandwidth usage...13 Chart 1.18 Do you manage your bandwidth in any way?...13

.. 5 Chart 1.6.1 Average Kbps for Institutions with CIR vs those without CIR...6 Chart 1.7 Percentage of Respondents with Burstable Capacity...6 Chart 1.8 Type of Internet Service Providers...7 Chart 1.

4 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Location of Respondents Respondents were targeted from across Africa. This report presents an analysis of 50 respondents. The largest group of respondents are from southern Africa. It is hoped that the end of the survey will obtain more respondents obtained from the other regions. The following chart shows the distribution of the respondents in the five African regions. Chart 1.1 Location of Respondents Location of Respondents Central Africa 8% West Africa 24% Southern Africa 46% East Africa 22% North Africa 0% 1.2 Type of Connectivity at African Tertiary Institutions The following statistics were derived from the sample. Chart 1.2 Type of Connectivity use by Institutions to link to ISPs Type of Connectivity used to link to ISP n = 50 Dial Up 10% not applicable 2% Leased Line Fibre 16% Satellite/VSAT 16% N= Leased Line Radio Link Leased Line Wire 42% From the pie chart it seems 14% the majority of the sampled universities use Leased Lines for connectivity purposes.

The following chart shows the distribution of the respondents in the five African regions. Chart 1.

5 1.3 Capacity of Connection in African Tertiary Institutions The average, maximum and minimum capacities of connection for the sample were calculated. Chart 1.3 Capacity of Connection Capacity of Internet Link - kbps N=49 Mean Maximum Capacity of Connection :downlink Capacity of Connection : Uplink Minimum kbps Institutions with Committed Information Rates The majority of the respondents do not have a Committed Information Rate for their connectivity or they did not know what a Committed Information Rate was. Chart 1.6 Percentage of Respondents with a Committed Information Rate Does the link have a committed information rate (CIR)? N=50 Question not answ ered/not sure 34% no 30% yes 36%

3000 4000 5000 kbps 1.3.1 Institutions with Committed Information Rates The majority of the respondents do not have a Committed Information Rate for their connectivity or they did not

6 Chart Average Cost/Kbps for Institutions with CIR vs those without CIR Average Cost/Kbps for institutions with CIR vs those without CIR n=39 CIR Status No CIR or do not know With CIR $/Kbps Institutions with Burstable Capacity Chart 1.7 Percentage of Respondents with Burstable Capacity Does the link have burstable capacity? N=50 question not answ ered/not sure 28% no 56% yes 16% The majority of the respondents do not have burstable capacity as indicated by the 56% that said no to the question. Again some respondents did not answer the question, as they were not sure what the question meant. 1.4 Type of Internet Service Providers in African Tertiary Institutions The majority of the respondents purchase their bandwidth from a National Telecom.

N=50 question not answ ered/not sure 28% no 56% yes 16% The majority of the respondents do not have burstable capacity as indicated by the 56% that said no to the question.

7 Chart 1.8 Type of Internet Service Providers Other 14% Service Provider Type n/an=50 2% Private ISP 22% VSAT Company 12% National Telecom 50% Data from this chart corroborates the low incidence of VSAT use in the sampled African institutions. Only 12% of the respondents mentioned a VSAT company as their ISP. Other service providers mentioned in the sample are donor-driven Internet initiatives like the UNDP initiative being implemented in Malawi and the French embassy of Central African Republic. Institutions from Kenya, South Africa (incl Swaziland and Lesotho) mentioned the services that are provided by TENET and KENET, the tertiary and education networks Length of Bandwidth Contracts Chart 1.9 Average Length of Bandwidth Contracts Average Length Bandwidth contract n=42 Average 1 Descriptives Maximum Minimum Years 1.5 Cost of Bandwidth per month Chart 1.10 Average cost of bandwidth/month

in the sampled African institutions. Only 12% of the respondents mentioned a VSAT company as their ISP.

8 Bandwidth Cost / Monthly in USD n=39 Average 3609 Maximum Minimum Cost per Month Cost per Kbps

9 Chart 1.11 Average cost per Kbps per month Cost per kbps by Bandwidth type Leased Line - Radio link/wireless Leased Line - Fibre Leased Line - Wire VSAT $/kps Average Cost per Kbps n=39 Average Bandwith Maximum Minimum Kbps

Line - Radio link/wireless Leased Line - Fibre Leased Line - Wire VSAT 3.

10 1.6 VSAT Use Chart 1.12 Percentage with VSAT Licenses (all Universities) Percentage with VSAT Use n=50 Freelicense (waiver) 12% Renting/using download services 4% Paid For License 2% No License 82% Percentage of VSAT users with VSAT License Chart 1.13 Percentage of VSAT users with VSAT Licenses With some form of VSAT License/use rights n=9 No 18% Yes 82% Cost of Non-Free VSAT Licenses Chart 1.14 Cost of Non-free VSAT Licenses Cost of VSAT license in / Year n=13 Average ost

download services 4% Paid For License 2% No License 82% 1.6.1 Percentage of VSAT users with VSAT License Chart 1.

11 Data from Institutions without VSAT but who know the cost was also included in analysis.

12 1.7 Networked Computers Average Computers Networked n=45 Networked Computers Average Maximum Minimum Number 1.15 Average number of Networked Computers Chart Bandwidth per Networked Computer Chart 1.16 Average bandwidth per Networked Computer Average Bandwidth per Computer n=45 Average 3.0 Computers Maximum 36.6 Minimum Bandwith/computer kbps

1 Bandwidth per Networked Computer Chart 1.

13 1.8 Monitoring Bandwidth Usage Chart 1.17 Do you monitor your bandwidth usage Do you monitor your Bandwith Usage? n=50 not answ ered/missing sometimes 2% 8% no 40% yes 50% Although 50% indicate that they monitor their bandwidth almost none of the universities could provide basic usage figures such as average bandwidth used, indicating that monitoring is sporadic at best 1.9 Bandwidth Management Chart 1.18 Do you manage your bandwidth in any way? Do you manage your bandw idth in any w ay? N=50 not answ ered 2% limited 4% yes 38% no 56%

universities could provide basic usage figures such as average bandwidth used, indicating that monitoring is sporadic at best 1.

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