Dream of Latin American Internet
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- Convergencia: What is the key to your business model Genaro García (GG)
- Convergencia: Which is the differential you offer your clients GG
- Convergencia: What advantages does carrying traffic locally offer GG
- Convergencia: What does Internexa CDN network consist of in Latinoamérica GG
- Convergencia: Did you not know this was likey to happen GG
- Convergencia : Would you say that Internexa operates as a kind of regional NAP GG
- Convergencia : Unasur fiber optic ring is approached as the backbone of telecommunications networks in the region. May that role be filled by Internexa GG
- Convergencia : Can it be extended to Mexi coGG
- Convergencia : But you also use submarine cables. GG
- Convergencia : What percentage of content that is transported in the region is of great social networks GG
- Convergencia : Did you deploy your own network GG
- Convergencia
| Dream of Latin American Internet
Genaro García, CEO of Internexa, explained why carrying traffic locally improves user's service quality and saves bandwidth. The Colombian company integrated networks in South America which will connect with Central America next year. 
Internexa is a subsidiary of the Colombian energy company, ISA, which belongs 51% to the national government of that country and the rest to pension funds, private investors and to Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM, a 10%). It manages about 28,000 kilometers of fiber optic networks among Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Ecuador (where it is a partner in equal parts with the State in Transnexa). Moreover, through a bilateral agreement with CANTV from, it operate there. In Argentina, it entered in early 2012, serving large and small customers and among its activities that of bringing together the NAP of Santa Fe with Buenos Aires stands out. Convergencia: What is the key to your business model? Genaro García (GG): We provide scarce infrastructure, ie, we take advantage of power lines laying and we also deploy fiber optic on other routings. So our focus is on operators for which it is impossible to deploy a network from the start. But also large companies, which often despite having their infrastructure need our services in areas they want to reach but where due to financial reasons it is not convenient for them to lay a network. Convergencia: Which is the differential you offer your clients? GG: Among IP services we take care of local traffic, so that it does not necessarily go through the United States. We have access to customer networks in other countries and to major international content networks through deals. Therefore we can offer higher quality to entertainment providers and to retail sites, among others. Another difference is the proximity to our customers as a carrier of carriers. Therefore we can grow in customers, although we do not have hundreds or thousands as it is the case of operators, but most importantly we can improve the services provided, especially the IP capacity. Convergencia_:_Would_you_say_that_Internexa_operates_as_a_kind_of_regional_NAP__GG'>Convergencia:_What_advantages_does_carrying_traffic_locally_offer__GG'>Convergencia: What advantages does carrying traffic locally offer? GG: Previously, each country had to pay for access to the US for Internet sharing. With regional networks, infrastructure is more efficiently used and content has fewer leaps. We have recorded reductions of up to 50 times in the response times, of 20 milliseconds to 40. This allows the operator to serve more customers at the same time because the bandwidth that each of them uses, is reduced. To attract customers, we offer them to test them by opening their and our networks for them to see everything we can access. Generally it saturates them the link, because it is as if a repressed traffic were released, which previously made the long routing. Convergencia_:_But_you_also_use_submarine_cables.__GG'>Convergencia_:_Can_it_be_extended_to_Mexi_coGG'>Convergencia:_What_does_Internexa_CDN_network_consist_of_in_Latinoamérica__GG'>Convergencia: What does Internexa CDN network consist of in Latinoamérica? GG: At first we installed servers in Colombia and Brazil, ie at both ends of our network, but it was inefficient because the type of consumption changes substantially even among localities and from region to region. So we installed secondary servers. Convergencia: Did you not know this was likey to happen? GG: No, it was impossible to know because no one knew what consumption was like in Latin America. Everything went to Florida (USA). Convergencia: If the local traffic benefits the end user, who achieves better quality and also content provider whose products reach the customer better. Why that idea does not progress faster? Why the ISP, with a business model based on selling a fixed capacity, slows it? GG: While it is true that the ISP sells fixed capacity and that it is not necessarily convenient for it that quality be increased, it is however convenient to be able to serve more customers with the same bandwidth. I believe that this model does not advance more quickly in part because it requires many individual negotiations. With us it is different, since only agreeing with Internexa the other party accesses all networks with which we have agreements. On the other hand, I think there are carriers whose busines differential remains the submarine cable to the United States. They do not agree that traffic is carried locally. Internexa has a different idea. Convergencia: Would you say that Internexa operates as a kind of regional NAP? GG: It's a bit pretentious, but that's the dream: to be a network with an IXP in each node. The dream is to have a Latin American Internet. Convergencia: Does it not overlap with UNASUR regional backbone project? GG: We have participated in meetings with Unasur, we have made our contribution. But we envision that when something can be done, it should be done and not wait. Convergencia: Unasur fiber optic ring is approached as the backbone of telecommunications networks in the region. May that role be filled by Internexa? GG: Internexa can be the backbone of Unasur. Convergencia: What similarities are there between the South American and Central American project, in which one are you involved? GG: Central America electric power companies made up the consortium EPR (from Spanish, Empresa Proprietaria de la Red). There ISA participates with 11%, which owns Internexa. We participate in REDCA, which is the telecommunications subsidiary of EPR. The project was delayed due to problems in the use of corridors, but this year it became operational. The idea is to link Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Also, through the electric interconnection planned between Colombia and Panama, Central and South America would remain linked. Convergencia: Can it be extended to Mexico?GG: Mexican Comisión Federal de Electricidads is art of EPR. That is why it is being evaluated to interconnect with its network in Mexico and reach even the United States. In 2015 it could be achieved. It would benefit the entire region with services in the interior of the countries, because for said purpose, capillarity is needed. With submarine cables it is not achieved. Convergencia: But you also use submarine cables. GG: Yes, we rented lambdas on cables of third parties. We use them mostly for connectivity to the US, because some contents are not in regional CDN and because CDN need to be periodically cooled. We also use them to link specific points when it is most convenient than reaching by land. Convergencia: What percentage of content that is transported in the region is of great social networks? GG: In Latin America over 50% of traffic is related to entertainment. That has to change. In developed countries it is lower. Convergencia: Argentina is one of the last markets in which you raided. Are they satisfied with the results of 2014? GG: We met the plans. We have spent two years on the market and the first ones are tough. But this year we achieved a positive EBITDA and reached a breakeven. In the coming months we expect to get profits. Convergencia: Did you deploy your own network? GG: We acquired rights on dark fiber, we added some ancillary own paths and also hired capability of third parties. The idea is to continue expanding. We work with cooperatives and Internet providers in the interior but also with major operators. Internexa model supports governments, and large and small operators. Of the four great operators nationwide we work with three. Convergencia: Do you have a data center of your own in Argentina? GG: No, we hire accommodation Download 16.58 Kb. 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