What Bandwidth Backbone Makes The Most Sense For Networks In Africa, Middle East, And Latin America?

Given network infrastructure available in each region ... what bandwidth solution make the most sense (and why) for designing network solutions to meet business voice/data needs?

This is a difficult question to answer given the challenges faced by each region. The reality may be there is no easy answer. There is no "one size fits all" that covers all of these regions at once. So each must be treated seperately and distinctly to have any chance of success.

Some of the factors to consider likely deemed important would include business (e.g. type of business, number of locations in the network) technology (e.g. copper, fiber, wireless backhaul) economic (financing, ROI of implementation, budget), political (e.g. stable government, nationalized services, free market encouraged entrepreneurship), and regulatory (e.g. internal government restrictions, international connectivity limitations).

For example .... is a DS3 based solution viable for a multi-site WAN network in Nigeria? T1 for a single location in Brazil? Ethernet for a campus LAN in Bahrain?

These regions of the world are also commonly referred to as "developing nations", which is usually true of their infrastructure, and communications infrastructure included.

Persian gulf emirates ..... and to some extent Brazil (in the big metro areas) .... are well developed and you can expect the same telecom services to some extent as in the USA and Europe.

Elsewhere, availability is scarce and inconsistent.

For this reason many developing nations are focusing on cellular communications intending to "skip" the development of wireline infrastructure altogether. For example basing it on direct satellite service, like VSAT. There is of course the issue of delay with this approach that will effect voice and high-interactivity, so if delay is an important factor you may need to consider use of Iridium (not sure what's became of them ) or some other low-orbit satellites.

Before digging into the technical aspects for a Middle East or African network infrastructure one should look into the political situation. Most of these countries still have their local phone companies government owned. At best they are a monopoly directed by political powers and local rich people. Once you tap into the right people, these countries are more adopting of leading and bleeding edge technologies. Customers in these regions are more prone to using the "latest-&-greatest" mostly for novelty reasons. In the end, it does not matter why customers subscribe as long as the business is there!

In Africa there have been some improvements in the terrestrial subsea connectivity but that doesn't help much in reaching specific locations and providing backhaul. Similarly VSAT has been the traditional solution in Africa and some other remote regions but the proliferation of WiMax is generating increasing problems of interference. This is compounded by the unpredictable nature of licensing and controls. In my view Latin America has improved quite significantly in general access provision but quality and cost is still difficult to predict and manage. In the Middle East a lot of investment has and is taking place .... but here the biggest hurdle tends to be regulatory and the lack of an open market for supply.

A true "answer" can only be achieved by detailed study of IT and telecom prospects and existing infrastructure availability in each region. To this end the following factors should be considered;

Technology .....

This type of pursuit all depends upon types of services to be offered (like voice “Fixed or cellular”, leased circuits for WAN, broadband, Triple Play, IPTV, etc), users (e.g number of users, individual or corporate, scattered or concentrated), service coverage and existing available backbone network infrastructure (e.g. OFC network with PDH, SDH, DWDM or MW via PDH, SDH) .... then we could be able to forecast backbone bandwidth, evaluate existing available infrastructure, plan enhancements if required, select technology, and estimate the investment. The short answer is that T1, DS3, and OC3 bandwidth make sense if line infrastructure is readily available for tie in. Fiber makes better sense (ethernet) if grid is readily available and supported. If none of these are reasonably available in quantity than VSAT will continue as solution of choice with tie in to minimal hard line structure "nodes" where present.

Business/Economic ....

To prepare a business model, the factors would include by neccessity CAPEX, OPEX, NPV, IRR, revenue based on ARPU for a specific offered service, taxes, licensing fees, Inflation rate, decline in ARPU due to expected competition, last mile connectivity for corporate customer, and unforeseen costs in licensing/approvals and project rollout. This category seems the most self limiting over any technology challenges.

Regulatory / Administrative (Political) .....

The administrative factors involved would be different for each region ..... like monopolized regime and political situations in Africa and partially de-regulated environment in most of the countries in the Middle East ..... normally getting a license is a tricky job in many countries.

For each of the regions cited (Africa, Middle East, Latin America) .... depending upon your analysis per the above factors .... you may find that a realistic solution may be that a hybrid of technologies would be needed. For example, VSAT can offer a worldwide network and be integrated into terrestrial networks (T1, DS3, OCx, fast ethernet) where feasible and available. In the end there is no single solution that fits every scenario ... you must be flexible and innovative to target the right solution for each situation on it's own merits.

How Every Global Business Can Find The Right Voice/Data/Cloud Network Solution For Them...Anywhere In The World

If you're an international business, doing business around the globe, then International Carriers are something that has become more important to your business in this age of a global economy. Below we'll talk about some key differentiator and questions you need to be thinking about when deciding just how to design the right international voice/data/cloud network for YOU. 

Your best options for these carriers have been split up into two different groups for this discussion, United States based carriers and international carriers.

UNITED STATES BASED CARRIERS

When we say “United States based”, we are referring to companies with the nexus of the ownership structure in the United States. These carriers are important because these companies will bill you directly, so if you want your bill in the United States and in US dollars, these will be your best option. Typically one portion of the solution you’re going to buy through them is going to be tied to the United States...so whether it’s a network, or a few locations for broadband access, you are going to have some type of nexus in the US when dealing with these US carriers.

• AT&T - Serves thousands of customers on six continents, including all of the Fortune 1000.
• Verizon - Provides businesses and governments around the world with leading IT, security, communications, network, and mobility services.
• CenturyLink - Provides data, voice and managed services to business, government and wholesale customers in local, national and select international markets through its high-quality advanced fiber optic network and multiple data centers.
• Level 3 -  Strong international player especially in Canada, Europe, and Asia as a result of their acquisition of Global Crossing a few years back. Global Crossing was almost entirely focused on the international market space.
• Masergy -  Owns and operates the largest independent Software Defined Platform in the world, delivering hybrid networking, managed security and cloud communication solutions to global enterprises.
• Cogent - A multinational, Tier 1 facilities-based ISP, consistently ranked as one of the top five Internet backbone networks in the world.
• Zayo -   Provides lit and dark fiber bandwidth infrastructure solutions and carrier-neutral colocation. Currently providing their services in seven countries.
• Global Capacity - Multi-site, multi-state, multi-country network solutions – Global Capacity’s One Marketplace network takes the headache out of sourcing and managing multiple suppliers across divergent geographies - delivering services with one MSA, SLA, and invoice no matter the location or access solution.

INTERNATIONAL CARRIERS

The second group is made up of carriers who are truly international, meaning they are not US based. These companies have headquarters in foreign countries with maybe a field office in the United states. They can bill in foreign currency and directly,  they can also set up a network in those countries. These carriers usually don’t buy wholesale from other places. They operate around the world and also have domestic presence in their respected countries.

• China Telecom - They have a huge presence in South America, and China along with the best rates.  
• NTT Communications -  Known as the “gateway to Asia” with total ownership of submarine cable infrastructures and the lowest latency from APAC to the US. 80% of the Global Fortune 100 use NTT for their mission critical global infrastructure and IT needs.
• TATA - If you have Data Centers or Contact Centers in India, Tata is the one you’ll want to talk to. They also have a huge presence in the Philippines.
• Telia -   Also called Telia Company, Telia Carrier is a company that  provides network infrastructure and services to more than 1,200 customers in 80 different countries worldwide. Their IP network, AS1299, has grown from being the largest IP network in Europe to being the second largest IP network in North America and the second largest in the world.
• GTT -  A global network integrator providing a broad portfolio of Wide-Area Network (WAN), Dedicated internet access and mobility services. GTT combines multiple networks and technologies such as traditional OC-x, MPLS and ethernet, to deliver cost-effective solutions. Their focus is on voice and cloud-based services
• Expereo - Expereo manages over 2500+ providers across 200+ countries to provide fully managed internet services with standard Ethernet handoff, static IPs, feet on the street, SD-WAN, in a single partner to help support you in the US or globally. They are headquartered in the Netherlands.
• Telstra -  A leading telecommunications and technology company offering a wide range of services globally, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. They have around 3,000 employees based in 22 countries outside of Australia providing services to hundreds of business and government customers. Telstra provides technology solutions for business and government customers, including data and IP networks, network application services such as managed networks, unified communications, cloud, industry solutions and integrated services.

These are the companies that can get you access, which means internet access, MPLS, SD-WAN, and field techs. The second group of carriers we discussed are the ones who will have the most field techs, while the first group of carriers are going to be the ones that rely on their foreign partnerships to get some of this work done. It’s important for you to know that because a lot of the times when work orders are handed off from one provider to another provider it creates some issues, but when you go right to the provider who is providing the service, everything happens a lot faster. 

MAIN CONSIDERATIONS 

Below we have listed some of things you should take into consideration when you’re deciding the design for your international network.

• Point to Point - Is one of those locations in the United States or not? For example if you’re going from Dubai to Japan then you have to look at the second group of carriers who are the true international carriers. If at least one of those points is inside the United States then the first group of carriers who are United States based will be your best bet.
• MPLS- If most of the locations are in the United States and just a few outside you will want to go with one of the United States based carriers. If majority of the locations are foreign and you only have one or two connections in the United States, the second group made up of truly international carriers will be your best choice. Of course than after the choice is made you will have to look into which carriers are available in the specific area you are in. The best way to start it out is just to narrow it down by country.
• Stand-alone Internet Access - If you’re looking for stand-alone internet access anywhere outside the United States you almost always have to go directly to the second group of international carriers. It is very rare to get stand-alone DIA because that's regulated under the local government regulations according to the particular country. Stand-alone internet access has to be done by a carrier who is native to that country or a carrier that has Nexus in that country.
• Last Mile - There are two different ways that carries can get last mile overseas... 1)  A type two connection, which means they have network to network interface agreements with that company. This is very expensive and technical. Companies like Level3 and Global Capacity have a lot of NNI’s.  2)  If you want to go from dozens to hundreds of options you actually have to just buy the last mile, in some cases retail which means the customer will have to go out and buy the last mile and route that back to their network. This opens them up to a lot more options.
• In-Country DID Numbers - There are many countries that will allow DID Numbers so your client can have an in-country number, but there are also many countries that do not. There are carriers in the portfolio above that don’t offer voice at all or local DID number. A good way to figure out which carriers offer DID numbers and which don’t....just ask us.  {see link below}
• Billing - If you’re a company that does not want to pay their bill in U.S. dollars you will have to find a carrier that has a nexus in your country. Nexus meaning an operating unit that has been registered with the local government that can actually bill in native currency.  Again, for help just ask us at the link below.
• SD-WAN - Some of the carriers don’t have their own native SD-WAN or even resell it yet. It’s important for you to understand what companies can do it and which can’t, specifically which carriers have equipment on standby so if something breaks you don’t have to FedEx a new unit out to the country.  Again, just ask us at the link below.
• Cloud and Colo Access - We talk a lot about Comcast, Level 3, CenturyLink and their ability to provide cloud connectivity directly into Azure or directly into AWS. What that is code for, is the ability to deliver connectivity directly into the data center in the United States where Amazon and Microsoft are co-locating their equipment. This applies overseas.

PUBLIC CLOUD ZONES 

All previous cloud connectivity discussions have been focused just on the North America, but as you can see from the image below Amazon has cloud zones in Brazil, Europe, and now they’ve also brought in Indonesia, Australia, China, and Japan. It’s important to know what you are intending to do in the public cloud, be we can also help build private clouds {just ask at the link below}.

In the image below you can see the zoning for the public clouds in the Microsoft environment. You’ll see that they’ve got a pretty comparable footprint with Amazon.  Microsoft has locations in Silicon Valley, Central US, North Central US, South Central US, and East US. They also have Brazil, Ireland, Amsterdam, and a good footprint across Asia, China, Japan, Australia, Singapore.

It is very important for you to be aware that today there is more need for connectivity internationally than there ever was before because internet and cloud access is worldwide technology upon which everyone is standardizing. Knowing the different types of international carriers, and what they can and can’t offer, is a great way to differentiate your network and help your business grow.

To take advantage of FREE quotes and support for design of international voice/data/cloud networks anywhere in the world...simply ask at the following link...it's easy as 1, 2, 3.

Free Network Design Support