Report: Technical infrastructure of Kyrgyzstan for the organization of alternative Internet channels

The Public Foundation Civil Initiative of Internet Policy publishes a report on alternative Internet highways in Kyrgyzstan. The report was presented on February 21, 2011 at the Round Table in Bishkek, the event discussed the need to create alternative Internet channels in Kyrgyzstan with connection to foreign traffic exchange sites.

The event was attended by representatives of the State Telecommunications Agency, the Association of Telecommunications Operators, telecom operators companies and Internet providers, the management of KyrgyzTelecom, representatives and members of other interested parties.

In the 21st century, broadband networks are considered as an important national infrastructure, similar to transport, energy and water communications, but given the fact that they are even more significant and have great development prospects. Studies at the international level show that with every 10% increase in broadband penetration in the country, there is an increase in national gross domestic product (GNP) by an average of 1.3%.

At the end of 2010, at the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Summit, it was announced that broadband should be used to bridge the digital divide. Access to high-speed networks by 2015 will be one of the basic human rights (“The future is based on broadband” Report of the UN Commission on Broadband, December 2010).

The development of high-speed Internet channels is especially necessary for rural regions, which especially need to stimulate economic growth. But ironically, those who are least able to afford broadband pay the highest price for accessing it.

In order to improve the speed of access to resources and reduce the price of access, it is necessary to consider the project of building a traffic exchange node with alternative external Internet channels. In the future, after the opening of both southern information ports on the border with China, it is possible to create a second traffic exchange hub in Osh. Then in Kyrgyzstan there will be two major Internet exchange hubs, connected both in the north and in the south with the networks of the largest Internet providers in the world. This telecom operator should receive the status of national importance.

The organizer of the round table and the initiator of the discussion is the Public Foundation Civil Initiative of Internet Policy.

Download the report on infrastructure of the Kyrgyz Republic for alternative Internet channels.