Hi Tinka, On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 4:58 AM, Mark Tinka <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tuesday 21 April 2009 06:30:17 am McTim wrote: > >> * It’s pricing, stupid: Brian Herlihy, CEO of Seacom >> spoke about offering prices of between US$50-300 an mbps >> per month... > > Be mindful that this price only relates to SEACOM. The cable > still has to interconnect to other systems depending on > where you're landing the capacity. > > The cost of leasing capacity on those systems isn't > necessarily taken into account in the figure above. >
My reading of SEACOM's offering is that they will sell you a port in Jinja for the above price. Now, how they cross the border (and how they get from Kisumu or Eldoret, where there is dark fiber) to Busia AND how they cross the border/operate networks on both sides is a regulatory bridge they seemed to have crossed. They must have really good policy folk, or tossed some cash around. >> and whilst IRUs might add as much as 20% in >> interest payments, this is still much sunnier that the >> US$4-6,000 per mbps currently being charged for >> satellite. > > Agree. > These prices may be pure fiction, but they will be lower than 1k USD per Meg/month. > IRU also turns the cable into capex, which can be amortized > over a period of time, rather than opex, which hits you > forever. > >> Better still, Seacom is promising this price >> wherever the capacity lands, whether in a coastal country >> or one inland. > > On which side? The African side or the EU/Middle East side? African! > > Either way, this is doubtful. If I want capacity from > Kampala to Telehouse, UK, I don't think this price includes > the backhaul between .ug and .ke, as well as backhaul from > the UK cable landing station to Telehouse. > That's my reading of it, look at the map on seacom.mu as well. > Keep this in mind - ask whether the price is city PoP to > city PoP, or whether it's CLS (cable landing station) to > CLS. Well, it doesn't seem like it'll be the case that one could pick it up at UIXP, but Jinja is on their network map. > > And remember, this is just the cost of the Layer 1 capacity > itself. It does not include the IP port(s). That, you'd have > to worry about on your own once the cable lands where you > need it to (although I'm sure SEACOM have a product bundle > where they can include an IP port as well). > mai oui >> Paul Edwards, Chair of Nigeria’s largest >> CDMA operator Starcomms said he had been offered US$100 >> per mbps on one of the west coast fibres. > > Again, the factors mentioned above need to be double > checked. > >> In addition, >> O3B’s pricing is pitched fairly close to these numbers. >> The traditional satellite operators are stuck: they >> either have to take what’s left over or come up with >> something innovative technically which will improve their >> price offer. > > Well, fibre is the speed of light :-). It doesn't get any > faster. no, but for GSM backhaul in remote areas, it's a market mover, certainly. > >> So it sounds like small ISPs CAN buy from SEACOM,... > > I'd imagine this would have been the case from the > beginning. You just need to figure out who, in the local > country, can provide connectivity to SEACOM. > > From what I can tell, both MTN and UTL will, on the .ug > side. > > How much they'll do this for, is the question - there's a > lot of sections to pay for for the capacity before you even > start thinking about IP. > >> and >> pick it up inland!! w00t! > > Technically, yes, you can pick it up inland as long as > there's a local operator that can interconnect with SEACOM. > > But the SEACOM cable, itself, is only at the cable landing > station in Mombasa. > Time will tell, innit. -- Cheers, McTim http://stateoftheinternetin.ug _______________________________________________ LUG mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug %LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
