[sdnog] Local ISP

[Nishal Goburdhan]

On 14 Jul 2020, at 9:28, الفاتح محمد حامد wrote:

>  I am from West Kordufan State , i hope that all of you are okay and
> healthy ,
>  And I would like to create a local internet service provider, due to 
> the
> lack of adequate coverage and weakness in the network here, so I would 
> like
> to know the required steps to get the licenses and also to know if 
> there is
> a way to get optical fibers with wide capacities and reasonable 
> prices,
> taking into account Consider that the prices of Sudatel lines are very
> expensive


i can’t help you with the licensing requirements;  that’s something 
you probably want to speak to the NTRA/NTC/TPRA about.  but 
congratulations on wanting to make your local environment better.

you need to think about a few things (you probably already have), but 
they would be:
# how do you plan to connect users?
i’m guessing this will be some kind of wireless setup initially.  so 
will it be unlicensed (cheap but works, except when it doesn’t), or 
licensed (costs more, but your network will be more stable).
# if you have the capital, fibre is best.  the fibre itself is not 
terrible expensive; it’s the trenching that costs money and time;  
getting the necessaries wayleaves and permission slips from local 
councils.  but we’re fortunate, because labour is still quite cheap in 
our region, so, if you can get fibre installed easily DO IT!  there’s 
a lot that can be written about this, but, perhaps it would be more 
helpful if you described how you are going to connect, first.
my current favourite transceiver provider is flexoptix.net and you can 
see what their prices are online yourself [1].  don’t spend hundred of 
dollars on OEM transceivers!
# what equipment will you use, and what technologies will you need to 
support?
# will you use your own IP address space

so that’s really just to get people connected;  but that’s probably 
not where you want to stop, unless, your business plan is simply to sell 
bandwidth.  and that’s not really a sustainable business plan - the 
“S” in ISP means “service” so what services do you want to 
provide;  how will you cost, and provision these?

if these sound like tough (or expensive) questions, consider that many 
countries use their USF (universal service fund) to aid small start up 
for this very purpose, so you might want to look into that.

you also want to make sure that when you engage the ISPs for transit, 
you make them understand that you want to deal with their wholesale 
division, and not retail.  that’s a key element moving forward in your 
internet ecosystem;  separating our the incumbent’s wholesale and 
retail business, but that’s not quite NOG talk ;-)

i’d be interested in knowing how you proceed;  please keep us informed 
  :-)

eid mubarak,

-n.


[1] 
https://www.flexoptix.net/en/transceiver/sfp-plus-lr-transceiver-10-gigabit-stm64-sm-1310nm-10km-8db-ddm-dom.html?co3111=18433