iWeek
15 -17 September 2010
Update on TENET
Duncan Martin
CEO: TENET
TENET
1
What is TENET?
• Non-profit (Section 21 company)
• Operates the South African NREN
– Currently: 96 campuses of 46 institutions
– Some remote campuses serviced by Telkom
• Recovers costs from institutions
– Around R130m per year
– No donations or government grants
• Member of ISPA
– Settlement-free peering at CINX and JINX
TENET
2
International b/w cost to institutions
Charge
Bandwidth
per Mbps
ratio
R 52,425
0.29
Start Date
2001-03-01
Platform
Satellite
2003-08-25
2005-08-25
2006-08-10
SAT-3
SAT-3
SAT-3
R 60,545
R 21,428
R 20,184
0.25
0.70
0.75
2007-04-01
SAT-3
R 21,025
0.72
2008-01-01
2008-06-01
SAT-3
SAT-3
R 15,045
R 14,245
1.00
2009-10-01
2010-01-01
SAT-3
SEACOM
R 13,375
R 1,380
1,12
10.9
TENET
1.06
3
International b/w history
TENET
Quarter
2008 Q3
2008 Q4
Mbps ordered by
institutions
228
241
2009 Q1
2009 Q2
2009 Q3
246
247
254
2009 Q4
2010 Q1
2010 Q2
329
427
1907
2010 Q3
2020
2011 Q3
6000 ?
4
This is thanks to…
• UbuntuNet’s formation and London ops
• SEACOM’s special 10 Gbps deal for TENET
• DST’s SANReN backbone deployment
• ICASA’s issuing of ECNS and ECS licenses
– Following Altech Autopage Cellular’s celebrated
court cases
However: high capacity backhaul
still has to reach many campuses
TENET
5
What is UbuntuNet?
TENET
6
UbuntuNet Alliance for Research
and Education Networking
• The regional REN in eastern and southern
Africa
• Non-profit association
• Head office in Lilongwe, Malawi
• Incorporated in 2006 in the Netherlands
• Now also incorporating in Malawi
TENET
7
UbuntuNet Members
Eb@le, DRC
EthERNet, Ethiopia
KENET, Kenya
MAREN, Malawi
MoRENet, Mozambique
RwEdNet, Rwanda
SomaliREN, Somalia
SUIN, Sudan
TENET, South Africa
TERNET, Tanzania
RENU, Uganda
ZAMREN, Zambia
TENET
8
UbuntuNet’s London PoP
• Located in Telecity, London
– since March 2008
• Member NRENs connect to the POP
• UbuntuNet interconnects with
– Géant (The European regional REN)
– More than 300 peers at the London Internet
Exchange (LINX)
– Transit purchased from NTT
• TENET operates the PoP for UbuntuNet
TENET
9
What is SANReN?
TENET
10
• South African National
Research Network
– DST funds capital cost
PTA
– CSIR (Meraka) contracts with
suppliers and “owns” it
JNB
– TENET operates it
– Institutions bear operating costs BFN
• 10 Gb/s Backbone ring
DBN
– Commissioned 1 Dec 2009
– Extensions planned to remote
PoPs
CPT
• Metropolitan access networks:
PE
EL
– Johannesburg
– Soon in Cape Town, Durban,
Pretoria
TENET
11
TENET’s SEACOM deal
TENET
12
Mid 2007
• Current Telkom contract nearing its end
• Change is in the air…
–
–
–
–
Electronic Communications Act replaces Telecoms Act
2nd network operator licensed (Neotel); ISPs gearing up
UbuntuNet Alliance establishes London hub
Government envisages deploying national research
network
• TENET decides to
–
–
–
–
acquire engineering and service management capacity
operate its own routing infrastructure
call for tenders for underlying network capacity
Interconnect internationally via UbuntuNet
TENET
13
Sept 2007
• SEACOM offers TENET 10 Gb/s circuit
between Johannesburg and Sicily
• Indefeasible Right of Use for 20 years
• Commissioning planned for June 2009
– 20 months away
• $23 million, payable upon commissioning
• Annual O & M charge of 3%.
TENET
14
How do we find $23 million?
• Tried to raise loans from bigger universities
– Complete failure
• Idea: Exploit the recurring bandwidth budgets!
– $5.8 million p.a. being spent on international b/w
– Can we pay for the IRU over 6 years?
• SEACOM says OK!
– Option to pay in 6 equal annual payments
– 14% p.a. financing charge
• SEACOM asks: What guarantees can TENET
provide?
TENET
15
Oct 2007
• TENET calls for “SEACOM CIR Bids”
– Invitation to all institutions
– Hey Mr. IT Director! How many “SEACOM Bid
Units” would you like?
• Each “Bid Unit” entailed
– Preferential ordering rights for 10 Mb/s on SEACOM
– Obligation to pay six annual amounts of $7,000
– (Works out at < $60 per Mb/s per month)
• TENET obliged to repay in services or cash
• Breakeven point: 750 Units
TENET
16
Outcome of Bid Process
• A NO-BRAINER!
– 950 CIR Units bid
– $29 million committed by 27 institutions
TENET
17
Final contract
• SEACOM accepted the 27 Bids as
sufficient guarantee
• Meanwhile negotiations continued…
– Endpoints: Mtunzini and Telecity, London
– Price: Drops to $20 million
• Capacity Purchase Agreement signed
on 2 November 2007
TENET
18
Later (just before commissioning)
Loan from the DBSA
• Development Bank of Southern Africa grants
TENET loan of R154 million (equivalent to
$20m).
• DBSA also accepted the 27 Bids as sufficient
guarantee.
• Loan enabled TENET to fully pay SEACOM.
• Institutions’ annual obligations converted from
US dollars to SA Rand.
TENET
19
The advent of dark fibre
• 1st Mtunzini Backhaul
– IRU purchased from Dark Fibre Africa
– 160 km; 6 dark fibre pairs
– 3 lambdas in use on one fibre pair
– Signal amplification at Umhlanga Rocks
– Was ready for SEACOM launch in Jul 2009
• TENET had required EC licenses
– Just in time
– Thanks to Altech Autopage court rulings
TENET
20
Mtunzini Backhaul
2nd Backhaul:
Neotel
SEACOM
cable
PTA
JNB
Mtunzini (landing station)
BFN
DBN
CPT
TENET
PE
1st Backhaul: DFA
EL
21
Further dark fibre projects
nearing completion
• UZULU Main Campus (kwaDlangezwa)
– 30 kms south to Mtunzini
• UNISA Campus in Florida
– Redundant routes to Wits and Rosebank
• Wits Main - Wits Baragwanath – UJ Soweto
– Spur shared by Wits and UJ
• Monash SA (Roodepoort)
– Redundant routes to Wits and Rosebank
– Amplification at UNISA Florida
TENET
22
TENET needs
• Access networks in
– Bloemfontein
– East London
– Nelspruit
– Polokwane
– Port Elizabeth
– Vanderbijlpark
• Co-build partners….
TENET
23
TENET
24