Evolution of the Georgian Internet
Jim Cowie, Chief Scientist Tbilisi, Georgia 19 May 2015
Georgia’s Regional Connections
The Caucasus region is a natural bridge Bulgaria (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)
(Black Sea 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