Evolution of the Georgian Internet

Jim Cowie, Chief Scientist Tbilisi, 19 May 2015

Georgia’s Regional Connections

The Caucasus region is a natural bridge (Varna) between Central Asia,

Azerbaijan Middle East and Europe

Georgia’s railways and energy pipelines provide natural routes for fiberoptic interconnection

@JimCowie 4 Regional Context 5 3 1 Jeddah Amman Damascus Istanbul 2 Gulf Bridge / Iraqi ITPC 6 3 Europe-Persia Express Gateway 4 Russian connectivity 5 TASIM 6 Caucasus Cable System

2 3

1

@JimCowie MARKET STRUCTURE, GROWTH, AND DIVERSITY

@JimCowie Domestic ASN growth in Georgia

60 • 125% growth since 50 2009 – very strong

40 • Compare to 30 worldwide growth

20 of 65% in the same period 10

0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

@JimCowie Domestic ASNs regionally

RU: 4609 Compare to:

• Ecuador (53) GE: 55 • Egypt (54) • Kuwait (54) AM: 59 AZ: 35 • Puerto Rico (55) TR: 348 • Cyprus (56)

IR: 332

@JimCowie Domestic ASNs connected cross-border

RU: 439/4609 “Too few” cross-border ASN connections may indicate an increased risk of accidental GE: 7/55 Internet disconnection

• <3: severe risk AM: 8/59 AZ: 3/35 TR: 29/348 • <10: significant risk • <40: low risk

IR: 5/332

@JimCowie Percent of market on-net, largest providers

RU: 50% Rostelecom 12880 High on-net market capture suggests limitations on GE: 64% competition, powerful Caucasus Online AS20771 incumbent role in market

AM: 36% AZ: 89% W. Europe median: 37% TR: 96% Delta AS29049 Middle East median: 68%

Turk Telekom AS9121 Central Asia median: 64%

IR: 71% TIC AS12880

GNC-ALFA AS196709

@JimCowie 2006-2015

EVOLUTION OF TRANSIT INTERCONNECTION

@JimCowie Georgia 2006

Primary national connectivity was through Turk Significant satellite Telekom Internet transit still apparent (SatGate, SkyVision)

@JimCowie Georgia 2008

Dependence on Tu r k Te l e k om has increased significantly

More expensive satellite Internet is being phased out, driving transit consolidation

@JimCowie Georgia 2009

Cogent arrives, becomes significant transit provider

@JimCowie Georgia 2011

Level3 service from Sofia arrives via CCS and expands rapidly

@JimCowie Georgia 2013

Armenian connectivity

Cogent has faded entirely

@JimCowie Georgia 2015

Level3 out of Superonline/ Sofia is still the Tellcom has dominant replaced Turk transit provider Telekom

@JimCowie HOW DOES DIVERSITY TRANSLATE INTO USER EXPERIENCE?

@JimCowie Regional path redundancy: Tbilisi City Hall

(Turkish routes)

(Northern routes)

( routes)

@JimCowie Visible diversity: Tbilisi City Hall

@JimCowie Latencies to Tbilisi Town Hall

@JimCowie LATENCIES MATTER WHEN CONTENT IS FAR AWAY

@JimCowie Georgia’s popular content: RTT latencies

Czech Japan Netherlands Republic 300+ms Russia 50-100ms 50-100ms USA 50-100ms 150-250ms

Rankings: www.alexa.com @JimCowie Analysis: Dyn Research WHEN YOU CAN, EXCHANGE TRAFFIC LOCALLY

@JimCowie Interconnection Choices Impact Consumers…

Silknet: 142ms

Caucasus Online: 60ms

Egrisi: 9ms

@JimCowie … Because peering in remote places adds delay

142ms via Frankfurt

60ms via Sofia

9ms – direct interconnection!

@JimCowie Conclusions

• Georgian connectivity is geographically diverse • Strong potential to be regional hub

• End user experience depends on: • Content locality (is it hosted here?) • Local peering (can I get to it?) • In-region interconnection (avoid hairpinning!)

• Lots of profitable work and growth ahead!

@JimCowie Evolution of the Georgian Internet

Jim Cowie, Chief Scientist Tbilisi, Georgia 19 May 2015