----- Original Message -----

From: Joseph Mucheru

To: kai.wulff@kdn.co.ke

Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions

Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 12:29

Subject: Re: [kictanet] Faith in local web hosting

Hi Eric and Washington,

There is another way to look at this. Why is it cheaper overseas? the obvious answer is that bandwidth there is local. In which case the hosting companies are not charged high fees for bandwidth. The infact primarily pay for peering with other networks. In our case we are yet to give hosting companies access  to the IXP.

One way to solve this is for ISPs to provide an "unbundled" hosting service;
a) Local part $x per MB
b) International part $x per MB
c) Rack Space $x

With such a setup it is much easier for webhosting companies to emerge and be very creative and at the same time compete with international players. This would make the business case better for most hosting business and they would not have to pay the high costs. Right now the high bandwidth cost is still paid for by the consumer since they still have to access the internationally hosted sites via the ISP.

Joe Mucheru

On Nov 26, 2007 7:48 AM, Eric Osiakwan <eric@afrispa.org> wrote:

Dear Mr. Washington,

You have stated the obvious which is the challenge but let me try to share some light on how to solve the problem.

It is really a chicken an egg situation, the localhosting business would develop based on demand but like you said demand is relative to cost.

However in the interest of developing our countries and continent if we all commit to having country code top level domain (in this case .ke) and host them locally, the demand would trigger supply.

On the other hand if the local entrepreneurs can invest in infrastructure and based on market study provide competitive rates (with the generic TLDs) then again the supply could trigger the demand.

Having said that, i have noticed something under the sun, which is that for some reason African just dont like using what other Africans produce so in some ways the former strategy would work better if we deal with the attitudinal change. 

Eric here

On 26 Nov 2007, at 08:35, Odhiambo Washington wrote:

On Nov 26, 2007 8:03 AM, robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

Hi all,

I have raised this issue before when I did a search and found out that the

CCK web site was hosted overseas and thus how can we expect them to monitor

the service quality levels of the ISP's.

On Sunday I visited the Kibaki web site, I experienced unstable audio

streaming so I decided to find out where the site was hosted, yes you guest

it overseas.   The other 2 presidential candidates web sites are no better

they are not locally hosted.  Is this a reflection of who the targets of

this web sites are?

The Kibaki site is developed by one 3Mice, if I remember right, which has

some association with newly appointed ICT Board Managing Director Kokubo.

Regards

 Robert Yawe

KAY System Technologies Ltd

Phoenix House, 6th Floor

P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200

KEnya

It's not the faith the people have in local hosting, but rather the

cost factor. Last time I looked at this web hosting biz, one company

was charging KES 1,000+VAT per month, which was what was though to be

competitive. Another one entered into the fray with hype about reduced

costing charges, but I am not sure how much business they managed to

pick. All the same, their charges did not compare with what is charged

internationally (I mean in Europe and the US).

Websites is not something that has caught up with many Kenyans,

otherwise the volumes would help sustain such businesses locally.

I believe the lack of volumes is one of the factors that makes

entities like 3Mice to host overseas. Top-notch Kenyan techies have

been hosting their Blog with blogspot (overseas). Bandwidth costs is

another. In Europe and the US, individuals can afford to connect

10MBps in their kitchens while in Kenya, that kind of bandwidth can

only be purchased by ISPs.

One last question though: Do you know any reliable webhosting company

that hosts it's websites locally, and has reliable and efficient

access to those websites? If there is one, they are not marketing

themselves enough.

--  

Best regards,

Odhiambo WASHINGTON,

Nairobi,KE

+254733744121/+254722743223

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Oh My God! They killed init! You Bastards!"

                        --from a /. post

_______________________________________________

kictanet mailing list

kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke

http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet

This message was sent to: eric@afrispa.org

Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/eric%40afrispa.org

Eric M.K Osiakwan

Executive Secretary

AfrISPA ( www.afrispa.org)

Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031

Fax: + 233.21.258811

Cell: + 233.244.386792

Handle: eosiakwan

Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North

Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North

Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/

Slang: "Tomorrow Now"

_______________________________________________
kictanet mailing list
kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke
http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet

This message was sent to: mucheru@google.com
Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mucheru%40google.com

--
Joe Mucheru
Office Lead, East Africa
Google Kenya
7th Floor, Purshottam Place
Westlands Road
P O Box 66217 - 00800 Westlands
Nairobi,
KENYA

+254 20 360 1701 Office
+254 20 360 1100 Fax
+254 20 360 1000 Switch Board (Regus)

+254 722522135 Mobile


http://www.google.com

This email may be confidential or privileged.  If you received this communication by mistake, please don't forward it to anyone else, please erase all copies and attachments, and please let me know that it went to the wrong person.  Thanks.

--
Joe Mucheru
Office Lead, East Africa
Google Kenya
7th Floor, Purshottam Place
Westlands Road
P O Box 66217 - 00800 Westlands
Nairobi,
KENYA

+254 20 360 1701 Office
+254 20 360 1100 Fax
+254 20 360 1000 Switch Board (Regus)

+254 722522135 Mobile


http://www.google.com

This email may be confidential or privileged.  If you received this communication by mistake, please don't forward it to anyone else, please erase all copies and attachments, and please let me know that it went to the wrong person.  Thanks.
--
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

_______________________________________________
kictanet mailing list
kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke
http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet

This message was sent to: kai.wulff@kdn.co.ke
Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kai.wulff%40kdn.co.ke