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From: Lishan_Adam_at_UNECA@UN.ORG To: Multiple recipients of list AFRIK-IT <AFRIK-IT@LISTSERV.HEA.IE> Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 12:12:26 EST Dear Afrik-ITers Here is some update on Djibouti. Djibouti is a bit warm at the moment (35-40 degrees Celsius). It is also hot to those who want to connect to the Internet. It made its link to full TCP/IP in May 1996 via a private ISP called STID. Contact: STID (Societe Telecommunications Internationales de Djibouti) BP. 2031 postmaster@intnet.dj Tel 00-253-35.12.87 Fax 00-253-35.01.09 Names: Mr. Ali and Mr. Bissou (sorry, I do not have full names). Here are some of the lessons from my brief visit last week. First lesson. Private ISPs are very efficient. We made applications for connection in the morning, within few hours we were online! No bureaucracy, no paper stating that we have to abide by press laws blah.. We filled an agreement that states standard Internet etiquette and ethics and we were there! Second lesson: standard software: local users connection at the moment are via dial-up PPP link. There are no local leased line links to the IP host at STID. Users connect using standard PPP, mail and web software (Trumpet Winsock, Eudora and Netscape). Third lesson: flat fees: this is easier to manage both by client and the service provider. The bad news is that the fee is high. Subscription fee= 50,000 FD ~ US$284 Monthly fee = 35,000 FD ~ US$200 Do not be alarmed with these fees. Many ISPs in Africa (store and forward) charge higher than this, see http://www.info.usaid.gov/alnk/ispcosts/data1.html There are two other lessons from this fee structure. I. ISP fees are based on local setting. Djibouti is one of the most expensive port cities in Africa; UNDP estimates that it costs 1.8 times of Addis Abeba and Asmara! (This is to alert neighboring countries not to copy these figures for their local Internet services!) II. The smaller the user base the larger the fee There are less than fifty users at the moment! According to the Director, these fees will reduce with increasing user base. Fourth lesson: Linux! We do not need $200,000 worth equipment to set up a full IP. Use PCs running Linux or Free BSD Unix for ten times less than that cost. See Mike Jensen's (mikej@wn.apc.org) recent article on Computers in Africa about this. STID has a 64Kbits connection to France and the servers are all running Linux. I was impressed. (I was expecting to see large SPARC stations). DNS , Proxy, Web and mail and news servers are all running under Linux. This is encouraging for development aid, local information hosts, academic institutions and other connectivity initiatives. Spread Linux throughout Africa and wait for miracles! Thanks. Lishan
