Connectivity Providers Database

Date Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 6:01 AM From: Lamia Chaffai<lamia@ati.tn> To: Ma. Dolores Lizarzaburu<mlizarza@darkwing.uoregon.edu> Cc: Randy Bush <Randy@nsrc.org>,Steven Huter <sghuter@nsrc.org>, pdg <pdg@ati.tn>,saadaoui <saadaoui@ati.tn> Subject: RE: Tunisia and the state of the Internet >1)Could you please provide a brief technical description of Tunisia's >external connectivity to the Internet - including upstream provider(s), >international bandwidth of the link(s), etc. ? >Tunisia has Internet links with : * Italia Telecom * Flag Telecom * France Telecom At present, the total International bandwidth is 110Mbps. >2)Please list all of the ISPs with external connectivity currently >operating in the country with the information in the following format: ISP in TN Link Type Bandwidth Upstream ISP POP location(s) ========= =========== =========== ================ =============== Planet Tunisie Leased lines 16 Mbps ATI Tunis,Sousse, Sfax GlobalNet Leased lines 10 Mbps ATI Tunis,Sousse, Sfax Hexabyte Leased lines 2 Mbps ATI Tunis,Beja TopNet Leased lines 2 Mbps ATI Tunis, Sousse Tunet Leased lines 2 Mbps ATI Sfax CCK Leased lines 6 Mbps ATI Tunis INBMI Leased lines 6 Mbps ATI Tunis SOTETEL-IT Leased lines 2 Mbps ATI Tunis IRESA Leased lines 2 Mbps ATI Tunis Tunisie Telecom Leased lines 2 Mbps ATI Tunis Ministry of Youth Leased lines 2 Mbps ATI Tunis ATI Leased lines 2 Mbps Tunis (Nabeul and Sousse in process) The rest of the Bandwidth is used by ATI, the national Internet Operator and the Public Internet Access Centers (http://www.ati.tn/publinets/index.html). Actually, all ISPs are using the Backbone to route Internet traffic to their customers located outside the Capital Tunis. Tunisia Telecom, the national Telecom Operator, is installing 30.000 access ports in POPs to be used for access port lease service for the ISPs. Further more, the 300 Public Access Centers "Publinet" located in all parts of the country, are connected to the Internet through the backbone. >3)Please also list the URLs for each ISP, and the name and e-mail address >for the appropriate administrative or technical contact ( The names and e-mail >of the contacts are very important for us because they allow us to publish >individual records of the ISPs). Tunisian Internet Agency: administrative contact: Mrs. Ferial Beji, pdg@ati.tn technical contact: Mr. Kamel Saadaoui, saadaoui@ati.tn http://www.ati.tn Planet Tunisie: administrative contact: Mr. Mohamed Garbouj, mgarbouj@planet.tn http://www.planet.tn GlobalNet: administrative contact: Mr. Naceur Chakroun,nasr.3s@gnet.tn http://www.gnet.tn Hexabyte: administrative contact: Mr. Naceur Hidoussi, naceur.hidoussi@hexabyte.tn http://www.hexabyte.tn TopNet: administrative contact: Mr. Mehdi Khemiri, mehdi@topnet.tn http://www.topnet.tn Tunet: administrative contact: Mr. Hatem Zghal, hatem.zghal@tunet.tn http://www.tunet.tn CCK (University Network): technical contact : Mrs. Sonia Zghal, sonia.zghal@cck.rnu.tn http://www.cck.rnu.tn INBMI (Education Network): administrative contact: Mr. Adel Gaaloul, adel.gaaloul@inbmi.edunet.tn http://www.edunet.tn SOTETEL-IT (Research Network): technical contact: Mr. Mourad Zouari, mourad.zouari@irsit.rnrt.tn http://www.irsit.rnrt.tn IRESA (Agriculture Network): administrative contact: Mr. Fethi Lebdi, lebdi.fethi@iresa.agrinet.tn CIMPS (Health Network): administrative contact: Mr. Mongi Miled, mongi.miled@cimsp.rns.tn Ministry of Youth (Youth Clubs Network): administrative contact: Mr. Taher Hfaiedh, taher.hfaiedh@jeunesse.tn http://www.jeunesse.tn Tunisie Telecom: technical contact : Mr. Slim Jarraya, slim.jarraya@ttnet.tn http://www.tunisietelecom.tn >4) Do you know about any links to information about the academic networking >development? The Khawarizmi Calculus Center which is the ISP for the academic network has the following web site : http://www.cck.rnu.tn The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has a web site : http://www.mes.tn It is important to add that a virtual university has been launched in. You may also visit the Education network web site : http://www.edunet.tn >5) What do you see as the prospects for Internet growth in Tunisia; >what would help it, and what are currently the major obstacles? A national committee is preparing a national program to boost Internet development in Tunisia (On the 7th of November, the government has started this program by cutting the subscription fees for companies and economic institutions by 50%.): 1. Reducing Internet and Telecom fees by use of a prepaid card for Internet connexion. This card should cover both telecom and Internet fees. This project should been launched soon using the telecom intelligent network. 2. Promoting ADSL connections and reducing ADSL subscription fees. 3. Promoting Internet Content production. 4. Developing new online services: E-government services, E-commerce ,... We do not have problems with Telecom and Internet Infrastructure since the present capacity of the Network and International bandwidth are higher than the capacity used by the actual Internet community in Tunisia. * The government launched a program called the "The family PC" (http://www.pcfamilial.tn/index.html) to make PCs affordable to Tunisian Families by cutting PC prices ( 700 $ for a PC with a printer) and offering payment facilities. This program should be reinforced and PC pricing should be reduced. * A lot of effort should be done to boost Tunisian content development on the Net. * Further more, there is a shortage in specialized IT skills and the number of IT engineers and technicians graduated each year doesn't fulfill the Tunisian market need. * Finally, the government is considering actions to help IT entrepreneurs and Startups as well as the development of Venture capitals for IT projects. Lamia Chaffai <lamia@ati.tn> Tunisian Internet Agency http://www.ati.tn