(Inter)Connectivity Issues in Nigeria: Some Perspectives

1. (Inter)Connectivity Issues in Nigeria: Some Perspectives Mobolaji E. Aluko, PhD Professor of Chemical Engineering Howard University, Washington DC; President/CEO Alondex Applied Technologies, LLC; Vice-President, NITPA (Nigerian Information Technology Professionals in the Americas)

2. A talk delivered at the 3rd Annual International Nigerian Telecommunications Summit [‘Realising Opportunities in Nigerian Telecommunications”]September 20-21, 2004London, England

3. Outline of Talk1. NCC & Interconnection2. The Need for Interconnectivity3. The Physical Structure4. The Logical Structure5. Nigerian Policy – Guided or Fully liberalized?6. Some International Examples 7. SAT-3 Issues (International, Local)8. Some suggestions9. A few closing thoughts10. Acknowledgements Bolaji Aluko;Nigeria Telcom Summit, London September 2004

4. Working Definition of InterconnectionNCC Act 1992 [Guidelines on Interconnection of Telecommunications Networks]:“5.(1) Interconnection means the physical and logical linking of telecommunications networks used by the same or a different operator in order to allow the users of one telecommunications network to communicate with the users of the same or another telecommunications network or to access services provided by a telecommunications network. The services may be provided by the parties involved or other parties who have access to the network. “

5. The Need for Interconnectivity Operator A Operator B Audio/Voice 1 3 Data Video Images Services Services Fax 4 2 Internet Subscriber Subscriber Services: Mainly Voice, little Internet-penetration, need more others (ATM, X.25, GPRS, etc.) Subscribers:1999 - 0.5 million 2003 - ~ 2.4 mil. 2004- ~4.6 mil. 2010 - 10, 20, 40 mil. ? Internet Users: 2000 - ~100k Sept. 2004 - ~750k [IP Count: 181k (Feb. 2004)] [2004: MTN:2 mil, VeeNet:1 mil, Globacom:750k; MTEL:300k;NITEL:450k; Others:60k?] Operators:1999: 1 NO, 1 MO, xPTOs, yISPs, etc. 2004: 2 NOs, 4 MOs, etc. 2010 - ?

6. BINARY SERVICE, MEDIA, PROTOCOL, MOBILITY DIVISIONS V O I C E NON - VOICE WIRELESS IP NETWORKS WIRED NON-IP NETWORKS FIXED MOBILE Converged Services

7. Each of the services:* different rates of transmission* different formats* different protocols* different priorities for delivery Convergence Issues XOIP – Services over Internet ! Physical Media; Logical Structure important for efficient connectivity

8. Physical media: Wired: Wireless: * twisted pair * IR, radio, microwave(terrestrial)* coaxial cable * VSAT* fiber(Very Small Aperture Terminal)- microwave, extraterrestrial (Satellite)

9. Physical media: Twisted pair (copper) – low transmission rate, short distance Coaxial cable (copper) – faster transmission rate, longer distance Fiber (glass) – low loss, very high transmission rate, great distance

10. For radio or microwave terrestrial – skip the satellite Moderate (radio) to high-transmission rates (satellite) [narrow-band < ~ 200 kbps --- broad-band] Moderate (radio) to very large distance (satellite)

11. True ISPs ~ 40 - 80 StarTech, Rainbownet, OduaTel, etc.

12. NITEL’s Telecommunication Infrastructure International 3 Digital, 1 Analog Intelsat Satellite Earth Station National 7 Digital Secondary Switching Centers Regional 52 Primary Centers (16 Digital) Local 286 Local Exchanges (135 Digital) Source: BPE’s website on NITEL (www.bpeng.org)

13. Some Telecommunications Indicators in Nigeria Source: VSAT case studies: Nigeria & Algeria [Esselaar & Stravou, 2003]

14. Questions for NigeriaWhat is our proposed and/or preferred transmission backbone- fiber and/or wireless?How should it evolve – completely private-driven or government-guided?Needed – a National Fiber Transmission Backbone

15. SIGNAL MULTIPLEXING & MODULATION FDM, TDM, (D)WDM can all be complementary [Eg GSM is combination of FDM and TDMA]

16. WhatLogical Structure ?* hubs* routers (for destination mapping)* bridges (to link networks)* switches (multiport bridges)* gateways* exchanges (eg IXP)Needed: A National Digital Interconnectivity Matrix coordinatedBetween Operators

17. NCC’s Five-Year Strategic Management Plan (2003-2007) “Target 1G1: To provide the regulatory stimulus and, where appropriate, the incentives to encourage the rollout of fibre optic links nationwide. Minimum coverage targets will be 30% by end Q4 2004, 40% by end Q4 2006 and 50% by end Q4 2007 (by state and nationally, as appropriate)” Are we on track?

18. NEPAD ICT Infrastructure objectives: Key Objectives: • To have in place, low-cost thin route satellite capacity and associated ground infrastructure to support the e-schools, e-health and other high priority NEPAD projects. • To ensure that all African countries are connected to a broadband fibre-optic cable system that in, turn, links Africa with the rest of the world.

19. Facilities Sharing, Collocation, Cooperation“19. (1) The Commission shall encourage collocation and facility sharing and develop guidelines for shared infrastructure use and collocation.”“21. (2) The Commission shall encourage the interconnecting operators to establish technical committees and to develop specifications, protocols, and procedures for the interconnection of their telecommunications networks” - NCC

20. NITEL GLOBA-COM FWA MTEL V-Net MTN Fully-Paired/Peered Connectivity Diagram for Operators Ref: “Resolving the Interconnectivity Battle in Nigeria: Some Suggestions” [Mobolaji Aluko, November 2002]

21. NITEL GLOBA-COM Switchor Router FWA MTEL V-Net MTN Suggested Multiprotocol Switch/Clearing House Ref: “Resolving the Interconnectivity Battle in Nigeria: Some Suggestions” [Mobolaji Aluko, November 2002]

22. Sample Integrated Mobile Communication Connectivity (Intra- or Inter-Operator) An intelligent logical combination of wired and wireless resources

23. ISP1 ISP2 IXP ISP4 ISP3 ISP5 ISP6 INTERNET EXCHANGE (IXP) ARRANGEMENT

24. Ibadan Internet Exchange IbIX: VSAT-based; http://www.ib-ix.net/index.htm Lagos Internet Exchange – STM-1/SAT3 WIP-based in the works; NITEL-enabled

25. African Exchange Points (IXPs) Cairo and Johannesburg: fiber-landing based All Eight Others: satellite-based ~$400 million lost annually in Africa due to out-of-continent satellite traffice

26. Typical Network-to-Network Interface (NNI) (Reference: Cable & Wireless)

27. Some IP-VPN Access Options [Cable & Wireless] Desirable to have some similar diagrams from Nigerian operators

28. FIBER-OPTICS INFRASTRUCTURE NITEL Fiber [? STM-4 (622Mbps) cables] GLOBACOM Fiber [32 STM-64 (~10Gbps) cables] SAT3 NITEL Fiber Rings (capacities?)

29. SAT3/WASC/SAFE PROJECT LANDING POINTS1. Portugal(Sesimbra)2. Spain (Chipiona)3. Spain (Altavista)4. Senegal (Dakar)5. Côte d’Ivoire (Abidjan)6. Ghana (Accra)7. Benin (Cotonou)8. Nigeria (Lagos)9. Cameroon (Douala)10. Gabon (Libraville)11. Angola (Cacuaco)12. South Africa (Melkbosstrand)13. South Africa (Mtunzini)14. La Reunion (St. Paul)15. Mauritius, (Baie Jacotet)16. India (Cochin)17. Malaysia(Penang) 1 2 3 4 7 6 9 16 5 8 10 17 11 15 13 14 2 12 For SAT3/WASC [15,000 km]: SDH transmission; two pairs optical fiber; WDM Initial capacity 20 Gbit/s (4x2.5 Gbits/s per fiber pair) Upgradeable to 40 Gbit/s to 120 Gbit/s (4x2.5 + 5x10 Gbits/s per fiber pair) Nigeria’s allocation – 13 STM-1’s (each 155.52 Mbits/s;2 “lit”) For SAFE [13,800 km] – 10 Gbits/s (2x2.5 Gbits/per pair) to 130 Gbits/s(2x2.5 + 6x10 Gbits/s per fiber pair)

30. GLOBAL NETWORK MAP Links to: SAT3  SAFE (to Asia via Indian Ocean)  SMW3  TAT-14 (to USA via Atlantic Ocean)  SMW3 (to Asia via the Mediterranean)  APCN-2 Japan-US {each 4 fiber pairs; DWDM; 160 Gbis/s}

31. Connectivityvia Portugal North America Sesimbra Central America SAT 3 / WASC / SAFE Middle East South America Africa

32. SAT 3 / WASC / SAFE Dakar Connectivityvia Sénégal Western Europe Middle East South America Central Southern Africa and Asia

33. Cochin SAT 3 / WASC / SAFE Connectivity via India Western Europe Asia Pacific Africa

34. Connectivityvia Malaysia Asia Pacific FLAG SEA-ME-WE 3 Middle East Penang APCN 2 Africa SAT 3 / WASC /SAFE APCN Australia

35. Cable restoration SEA-ME-WE 3 Cochin, India PORTUGAL & SPAIN FLAG Penang, Malaysia SAT-2 ATLANTIS 2 SAFE Durban, S.Africa Dakar, Senegal SAT- 3/WASC Cape Town, South Africa

37. See: http://www.cw.com/uk/our_network/network_maps/index.html Also: http://www.level3.com/userimages/dotcom/images/maps/darkfiber_map.gif Sesimbra SAT3/WASC Chipiona

38. SAT-3 USAGE IN NIGERIA SO FAR • Telcoms 2. Oil & Gas Companies: • NITEL Shell • Globacom Chevron • MTN NLNG, etc. • GS Telecom • PTOs, etc. • ISPs 4. ASPs • Tara SITA • Accelon Tara, etc. • GS Telecom • Elinex • Nova, etc. • [to be/connected to Nitel’s Wholesale IP (WIP); • gearing up for Lagos Internet Exchange Point (LGIX)]

39. Some concluding thoughts:*Telecommunications are critical to economic development*There is need for greater transparency and information flow for investor planning/wealth creation* Fiber backbone critical !* Need for Integrated National Plan for Telcomservices (with some time tables)* Next important issue: value-added services(e-commerce, e-learning, security, etc. by SMEs)

40. Final Acknowledgements* To CWC* To NCC/Ministry of Communications* To the listening audience Bolaji Aluko;Nigeria Telcom Summit, London September 2004

41. I will be happy to take questions!End Bolaji Aluko;Nigeria Telcom Summit, London September 2004