Dominica moves to develop domestic internet

Minister George

ROSEAU, Dominica – The Minister responsible for Telecommunications in Dominica, Ambrose George, has declared his Government’s intention to facilitate the establishment of an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in Dominica. This move is expected to bring significant benefit to Internet users and entrepreneurs.

Speaking at a recent Caribbean Internet Exchange Point Awareness symposium hosted by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and US-based nonprofit research institute Packet Clearing House (PCH), Minister George noted that IXPs were an important facility to encourage domestic development and economic growth. The minister described the IXP as a facility that allows for the free exchange, or peering, of domestic Internet traffic between Internet service Providers (ISPs).

“Countries all across the world have realised and exploited the benefits of IXPs. Establishing an Internet Exchange Point in Dominica is expected to bring several benefits for our Government, as well as for our citizens and business community,” he said.

Symposium participants, including the two major Internet Service Providers LIME and Marpin Telecoms, agreed to form a working group to consider the information presented. The working group also committed to collaborate on defining the next steps toward establishing an Internet Exchange Point in Dominica.

The Symposium, which was held at the Fort Young Hotel in Dominica’s capital city, Roseau, was attended by a wide cross-section of the stakeholder community including officials from the Government, the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC), the private sector, media houses, ISPs, as well as students from the Dominica Community College. The event was facilitated by Bevil Wooding, an Internet Strategist with PCH, and Stephen Lee, a US-based ICT expert.

Wooding, who delivered the feature presentation at the Symposium, described IXPs as an internationally recognised mechanism for achieving cost and service gains and ICT sector growth.

“Accelerating the spread of the Internet in the Caribbean, encouraging development of Internet-based services and reaping real social benefit is dependent on reducing Internet connectivity and bandwidth costs and improving quality of service across the region,” Wooding said.

He described building an IXP as a technically trivial exercise, but he noted that building the level of trust and collaboration required between stakeholders is not always straightforward.

Wooding, who also serves as the Program Director for the CTU’s Caribbean ICT Roadshow, noted that over the past sixteen years, PCH has built or supported more than one third of the world’s 300 IXPs.  His presentation drew from several international examples to demonstrate how IXPs can be practically leveraged in the region to address the issue of local content development, community empowerment and new types of Caribbean innovation and entrepreneurship.

Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General of the CTU, reiterated her organisation’s long-term commitment to regional development, stating, “The CTU will continue to seek out and partner with organizations that demonstrate a sincere commitment to national development.”

She added, “Through the CTU’s Caribbean ICT Roadshow we plan to expand our outreach to Governments and to help policy makers understand the changes to the regulatory and business environment that an IXP can bring.  We are also prepared to work with ISPs and industry stakeholders to identify new opportunities for technological innovation across the Caribbean.”

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36 Comments

  1. Nudibranch
    October 23, 2012

    People,
    you are already paying for 10Mb internet speed, wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got what we paid for? There should be no price increase as we are billed for it already.
    …should…. as a nation we already know we pay for what is advertised but never get half of what is promised.

  2. Patat
    January 30, 2011

    Citizens of Dominica , if is the government you are concerned about looking at your internet surfing activities then think again.

    Every time you log on the Internet say on http://www.sears.com the flag of Dominica shows up on the home page of sears. What does that tell you? You have always been monitored!!! There are other sites you can go on and it will give an approximate geographic location of where in Dominica you reside!

    The biggest monitor of the Internet is the USA followed by Europe then China, Israel, and other countries that think they have more to lose than gain.

    How do you think the USA is able to monitor every money transfer around the world and see who buying Hummer out of Dominica?

    So you think Magic Jack is safe because it cheap? You really think Skype is safe because it is cheap as well?

    When was the last time to clear your computer’s history?

    Do you know how you can be tracked down with your cell phone in the US and anywhere in the world? Do you know how to at least reduce that risk? When was the last time you simply removed your cell phone battery from your phone , wait for about 10 minutes before putting back the battery?

    When was the last time you simply turned off your ADSL modem for about 5 to 10 minutes before going back on the Internet?

    All these risk or challenges are already with us before IXP is introduced.

    Can you minimize these risks?

    Can you sign up with Hudgesnet which provides Internet service via satellite and does not go through your cable TV wires or telephone wires in Dominica?

    How safer you think you will be? How much are you willing to pay for that perceived safety?

    So you think buying Sim cards from Lime and Digicel in other Countries will improve your safety? Big joke people!!!

    Do not even waste your money to buy software that says it can hide your IP address.

    Bottom line , the same way you can type in the web address of dno you can do a search on the net to read about the risks associated with being on the Internet.

    • It's a Big GAIN
      January 30, 2011

      True Say! I couldn’t av said it better.
      I know you and Wikileaks is one an da same person, but don’t stop enlightening us now. Doe dig. 8)

      • WIKILEAKS
        January 31, 2011

        It’s a BIG GAIN, WIKILEAKS is not PATAT and PATAT IS not WIKILEAKS. But I way better than this dude, but he is very good at what he does too.

        Hey PATAT, what’s up? How was the weekend? Have a better week….you too BIG GAIN

    • c bruce
      January 31, 2011

      Good point sir

      but that being said…

      why should we put yet another monitor on our backs… a local and more potent one at that!!!

    • wellyes
      February 1, 2011

      :-D Allu Can talk pure Bullock’s Mr Patat ip addresses are linked to various Countries–Therefore the sears System recognises the Protocol and uses that to properly guide its system as to online purchasing as there are several aspects of there service that would not generally comply to A dominican Shoper through its General Online Shopping mechanism —I think you need to Vist your it school and learn about information Communication technology , by the way remember this would never be a form of monnitoring its a way to have our own lil microsoft u fooo :cry:

  3. WIKILEAKS
    January 30, 2011

    Who are these people who post all these nonsense and always think of politics. Why would a Dominican/St lucian/Antiguan wherever not want his local traffic to stay Domestic and soverign.

    For those of you who don’t understand, think of this ISP as your Grand Old Post Office. So if I reside in Mahaut and I sending a post card to my friend in Mahaut, I don’t want that Card to go to Roseau and then back to Mahaut. i would rather have the post man/woman jst drop it in the Mahaut box….the same is for the internet or email or anything on the net.

    So Dominca and the rest of the OEC having their independent IXP is for the benefit of you the one who are writing stupid political stuff on things that are very important to you all.

    Unless we start thinking positive and think of means and ways that will benefit us and not politics, we will be repeating these same stupid statements again and again and again.

    Now Google is a great learning tool and just one search on IXP would explain all of this in simple terms and nothing about DLP and UWP would come up in that search.

  4. undercover broda!!!
    January 30, 2011

    My brothers and sister please take time to research on topics that you know absolutely northing about before talking…….

    http://www.diplomacy.edu/poolbin.asp?IDPool=127
    http://www.acorn-redecom.org/papers/acornredecom2010cavalcanti.pdf

    Read my people, read!!!

    • Q
      January 30, 2011

      thats good you doing your research. Most Dcan dont as can be seen from thier comments.
      I am hoping they will start reading and doing research.

    • It's a Big GAIN
      January 31, 2011

      This is powerful info…Keep it flowing padner. Thank you

  5. Gee
    January 30, 2011

    ******How MUCH*******

    How much will it cost US taxpayers? It’s always interesting to me that cost is never mention in these things!! By the way what percentage of us have internet access in DA or even own a computer?

    I am just asking!!

  6. Aaaaa
    January 30, 2011

    How many times Ambrose got fired or forced to resign? Why these people still in the ministry is beyond me. Well at least now we have a trace of all George’s extracurrilar “banking” activities… :wink:

    • Aaaaa
      January 30, 2011

      extracurricular* :lol:

  7. c bruce
    January 29, 2011

    THIS GOVERNMENT IS NOT TO BE TRUST WITH ANYTHING
    THEY HAVE PROVEN THEIR UNTRUSTWORTHINESS OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

    I WISH DOMINICANS WERE MORE INFORMED ABOUT DICTATORSHIPS AND HOW THEY ARE GROWN.

  8. desie
    January 29, 2011

    i hope i will b able to download my movies , music , software and games freely
    cause i cannot afford to buy them

    • c bruce
      January 29, 2011

      ha

  9. Jayson
    January 29, 2011

    His name says it all : ‘WOODING’ !

  10. ham
    January 29, 2011

    Mr George what is the latest on the massive demonstrations in the major cities in Egypt against dictatorship and corruption? Please reply…OUR MONEY NEEDS TO BE SPENT WISELY..

  11. THE REAL REASON
    January 29, 2011

    Mr George ,

    my knowledge of IXP’s are solely based to regulate the use of internet traffic.They are being used primarily in countries and territories where spying on net users are required.CHINA,VENEZUELA,NORTH KOREA, IRAN,ISRAEL and the U.S just to name a few use IXP’s with the government regulating the firewall end of it,thus deciding what is legit or not (in their eyes).THE U.S however use IXP’s on the ideology that they must keep tabs on terrorist.This is an outrageous idea of keeping the mouths of the masses shut !!

    IXP’s are just another step in the process of keeping the people at bay.

    CRAP CRAP and MORE CRAP!! ONE PARTY STATE CONTROLLED MEDIA,LIvelihood now INTERNET !!!IS it that too many of your bombshells are uncovered on the internet ?

    • Big Question
      January 31, 2011

      No emphasis on bringing down the cost, only hints…hmmm

  12. Poule Coutouni
    January 29, 2011

    I do not trust any Internet business with This Minister involved. Remember the Nigerian scam.

  13. aware
    January 29, 2011

    when uncle chavez began censoring the internet traffic in venezuela last yr i feared uncle S would soon follow here.
    there are benefits to be reaped where there are multiple internet service providers and large volume of internet usage..

    i really hope the ICT sector is stimulated to promote and reap benefits of this IXP . the government is expected to also reap benefits.. but with only two isps how much can they make.
    lets hope the primary motive is really for the benefit of the public and not to censor the internet as our donors have

  14. Ian
    January 29, 2011

    An Internet Exchange Point (IXP for short) is a physical infrastructure that allows different (ISPs) Internet Service Providers like Marpin 2K4 and Lime to exchange Internet traffic between their autonomous systems by means of mutual peering agreements. IXPs are typically used by ISPs to reduce dependency on their respective upstream providers; furthermore, they are used to increase efficiency and fault-tolerance. The costs for operating an IXP are typically shared by all participating ISPs.

    The objective is to provide high-speed, reliable and resilient IP traffic exchange facility for both or all future ISPs, allowing them to route IP traffic efficiently thereby providing faster, more reliable and lower-latency Internet access for their customers.
    The overriding aim is to keep local Internet traffic local while deriving other benefits such as the following:
    The Exchange Point
    * Reduces operational costs for ISPs
    * Spurs competition among ISP leading to drop in prices for consumer
    * Improves reliability and performance leading to cost benefits to end users
    * Provides for redundancy for peers and consumers
    * Creates new local Internet bandwidth in the local market
    Better Explained:
    The primary purpose of an IXP is to allow networks to interconnect directly, via the local exchange, rather than through one or more 3rd party networks. The advantages of the direct interconnection are numerous, but the primary reasons are cost, latency (The amount of time that data takes to travel to and through), and bandwidth. Traffic passing through an exchange is typically not billed by any party, whereas traffic to an ISP’s upstream provider is.

    The direct interconnection, often located in the same city as both networks, avoids the need for data to travel to other cities (potentially on other continents) to get from one network to another, thus reducing latency which is (the amount of time that data takes to travel to and through).

    The third advantage, speed, is most noticeable in areas that have poorly developed long-distance connections. ISPs in these regions might have to pay between 10 or 100 times more for data transport than ISPs in North America, Europe or Japan. Therefore, these ISPs typically have slower, more limited connections to the rest of the internet. However, a connection to a local IXP may allow them to transfer data without limit, and without cost, vastly improving the bandwidth between customers of the two adjacent ISPs.
    Bottom line Why IXP?

    Save Money
    Save more money
    Save more more more money

    • undercover broda!!!
      January 30, 2011
    • aware
      January 30, 2011

      common man… stop copy and paste a manufacturers selling points.. alhtough its true .. look at it from a buyers standpoint… do we reallly have dat much traffice in dca? how much of the 70k people has internet? although what u said is true i really believe is more regulation govt is trying to impliment on the countries communication systems

    • ouch
      January 30, 2011

      nice to see all the advantages can u educate us the diadvantages also. ever ting has 2 sides can you fairly do the same.

    • Informer
      January 30, 2011

      Very good contribution but as you note from the comment below many do not understand it enough to appreciate it. Sad but true. Dominicans do not read.

  15. HELAS!
    January 29, 2011

    HAH HA HA; LIKE CHINA, EGYPT, CUBA VENEZUELA AND MORE!
    we are getting more of the next level !!

    and see who is the messenger!

    helas!!

  16. Anonymous
    January 29, 2011

    I fraid dat domestic intenet.

  17. Anonymous
    January 29, 2011

    I fraid dat, domestic internet.

  18. papa way
    January 29, 2011

    …surely there are better ways of spending money the country doesn’t have!

  19. pedro
    January 29, 2011

    sounds good. Until they pull the plug like in Egypt

    • Q
      January 29, 2011

      they can pull the plug all now!! without IXP!!

    • FIRE
      January 29, 2011

      Moffla U have kicks eah!

  20. mouth of the south
    January 29, 2011

    its a good initiative but i also see it as a way to hold people in bondage since they’ll be controlling it,,, the same way china can pass legislation to block certain materials which may be against their interests

    • Q
      January 29, 2011

      make no sense what you saying. they do that without IXP.

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