Competition is tough in the U.S., but in South Africa, Wi-Fi LANs were, until recently, illegal.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [July 26, 2007]

Founded in 1996 by eight ISPs, the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) now has about 137 members (including, yes, AT&T's South Africa arm).

This year, from September 5 through 7, it is running the sixth iWeek conference, co-hosted by ISPA and UniForum, the registrar for the .co.za domain (.za is the domain for South Africa).

The association also runs the local internet exchange, the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX). In the past, many web requests within South Africa went through an international exchange. JINX helps keep traffic national instead of international. Keeping internet traffic within South Africa keeps down costs for all South African businesses, including ISPs.

Regulation
Like other ISP associations worldwide, the ISPA has fought the incumbent on many issues. Most shocking, the incumbent claimed at one time that it owned all IP traffic. The quashing of this claim by the regulator in 1996 enabled South Africa's internet industry to start to grow, including the eight businesses that founded the ISPA in that year.

More recently, ISPs have won the right to provide alternative ADSL and to run WiFi LANs.

ISPs in the U.S. face a regulatory climate hostile to competition, but many rights that U.S. ISPs take for granted have been denied to ISPs in South Africa for years.

Wherever an ISP sets up business, it needs a local association willing and able to fight for the entrepreneur against the local monopoly. The ISPA remains active, with filing on current issues with regulators and posting those filings on its submissions page.

Organization
The ISPA has a constitution and a code of conduct. The ISPA website lists current office holders along with brief bios.

Membership fees depend on the size of the ISP and determine the bandwidth allocated to the ISP at JINX. At press time, membership fees were 3,830.40 Rand per year for a small ISP, a little over $550. Members get free entrance to iWeek, bandwidth at JINX, and other benefits.

ISPs outside of South Africa but within southern Africa can join ISPA as non-voting members and obtain access to JINX. They pay the same fees as South African ISPs.

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Related articles:
	[Dec. 13, 2004]	Talking to South Africa's Regulators
	[Nov. 26, 2004]	A Trip to Southern Africa

Online resources:
	ISP-Planet Directory of ISP Associations