[Community-Discuss] Spearheading Internet Development in Africa / Late commentary on fee discussion

Thu Oct 4 12:55:34 UTC 2018

Hi Douglas

We have thought - and lived through some of the issues you raise. Allow me
to reinforce our case using the points you raise.

2018-10-04 9:15 GMT+00:00 Douglas Onyango <ondouglas at gmail.com>:

> Hi Coenraad,
> I admire your interest in bringing more ISPs on board, however, I have
> a serious problem with your proposal to use financials to classify
> members.
>
> First, I think it places AFRINIC in a rather precarious situation.
> Several members already have a problem with AFRINIC probing their
> network design. How do you think they will receive probes on their
> financials?
>

Our proposal is simply to offer those members who wish to apply for the
discount, the option of volunteering their audited/reviewed financials. If
they don't wish this, there is no need.

>
> Second, this proposal places a direct financial burden on AFRINIC to
> extend the assessment to financials. I suspect that to do this,
> AFRINIC would have to either hire a fulltime resource with expertise
> in accounting/finance or outsource to some other finance authority.
> The total cost of implementing either one of these interventions will
> most likely exceed the anticipated $100k you think AFRINIC will make
> in the long term.
>

While I think some financial literacy is necessary, standard reporting
formats show revenues clearly and I am sure all current Afrinic staff
should be perfectly capable of interpreting it.

The only burden, perhaps, is to verify the credentials of the accounting
firm that has signed off on it with their relevant authority. Auditors and
accountants are held to a high standard by the bodies of which they are
required by law to be members, and will lose their credentials and
livelihood if they are found to misrepresent any information.

Third, some organizations, especially small one like the ones you wish
> to represent, might not have audited financials – In fact some of them
> may not even be incorporated. To ask them for audited financials would
> be to inadvertently exclude them from being eligible for allocations.
>

This is something that I have lived through with several organizations -
allow me to use this to reinforce our case:
1) An organization that is financially competent is stronger and better
positioned to administer funding and become sustainable and grow in the
long run.
2) While there is a cost to achieve this, it is perhaps the best single
investment that an organization can make
3) The possibility of achieving a discount serves as further incentive for
an organization to prioritize this important function

In short, start-up businesses are in many ways already excluded - and they
need all the help they can get - every bar that is lowered increases their
chance at success. An organization that can only afford the one or the
other, will be better served to spend what they have on incorporating and
becoming financially prudent first. Many accounting professionals offer
their own discounts, and many organizations exist to help such ventures.

In our case, knowing what is possible, we will advise community networks
and start-up ISPs accordingly - and it will stretch the funding we do
manage to obtain substantially further.

> The negative consequences of your proposal seem to outweigh the positives
>

Considering our perspective, do you still believe this?

Regards

>
>
> On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 at 13:30, Coenraad Loubser <coenraad at zenzeleni.net>
> wrote:
> >
> > Dear AfriNIC community
> >
> > According to the ITU (2017) Africa has 739 million individuals without
> access to internet infrastructure.
> >
> > We write to you representing 70 individual community networks from 30
> African countries, most whom are not yet AfriNIC members, but who each have
> part of the solution to making available access to these areas where there
> is very little formal economic activity and where no alternative options
> exist, and where the internet can play a vital enabling role.
> >
> > This letter has been under discussion during the past 4 months, and has
> been the subject of almost 100 messages on external community networks
> forums.
> >
> > There is a class of Internet Service Provider that is not recognized by
> AfriNIC. In order to allow us to draw in their resources to help building
> out the invaluable resource that is the internet, as part of the AfriNIC
> community, we would like to discuss a mutually beneficial proposal that
> will play a huge role in setting up the next generation of ISPs in Africa -
> and promote an excellent platform for ISP- and IPv6 training.
> >
> > We first contemplated proposing a definition for a Community Network or
> Non-Profit ISP, but having also worked with many small and competent ISPs,
> we recognize their challenges and the benefits that having them in this
> community can bring.
> >
> > We would therefore like to propose, in line with simplest change
> possible, the following additional amendment to the fee schedule that has
> been under discussion:
> >
> > 3.6.5 An entity with annual revenues less than USD 350 000 that is
> required to register as an LIR, such as a Wireless User Group, Community
> Network or ISP will qualify for an additional discount of 40%.
> >
> > Basic modelling shows that this can potentially require AfriNIC to give
> up up to $40k annually, but could yield a surplus in excess of $100k
> annually after a few years as these networks mature.
> >
> > Alternately, a profit based model, which has not been explored as
> thoroughly:
> >
> > 3.6.5 An entity with annual profits of less than USD 100 000 that is
> required to register as an LIR, such as a Wireless User Group, Community
> Network or ISP, will qualify for a discount of 75%.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > --
> > Coenraad Loubser
> > Co Authored by Dr. Carlos Rey-Moreno
> >
> > Office: +27 (0)43 555 2028
> > Mobile: +27 (0) 73 772 1223
> > Skype: coenraad_loubser Twitter: @dagelf
> >
> > Zenzeleni Networks NPC zenzeleni.net
> > - Best Innovation with Social Impact Award winner, Innovation Bridge 2017
> > - Community Favorite, Mozilla Equal Rating Innovation Challenge 2017
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxTPSWMX26M
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Community-Discuss mailing list
> > Community-Discuss at afrinic.net
> > https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/community-discuss
>
>
>
> --
> Douglas Onyango, PRINCE 2, ITILv3
> UG: +256 776 716 138
>

-- 
Coenraad Loubser

Office: <+27435552028> +27 (0)43 555 2028 <+27435552028>
Mobile: +27 (0) 73 772 1223 <+27737721223>
Skype: coenraad_loubser Twitter: @dagelf

*Zenzeleni Networks NPC *zenzeleni.net
- Best Innovation with Social Impact Award winner, Innovation Bridge 2017
- Community Favorite, Mozilla Equal Rating Innovation Challenge 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxTPSWMX26M
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