Session Date/Time: 25 Jul 2023 16:30

gaia

Summary

The Global Access to the Internet for All (gaia) working group session at IETF 117 featured presentations on content locality in Africa, democratizing cellular access, computing within limits, and improving internet connectivity in Nepal. The presentations sparked discussions on peering agreements, the role of incentives, and the broader societal impact of networking.

Key Discussion Points

Content Locality in Africa (Innocent Obi):
- Challenges and contradictions in achieving content locality.
- The role of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in flattening the Internet.
- Issues with cash flow for smaller ISPs.
- Remote peering and its impact on latency.
- The need for better vantage points and data on peering arrangements.
- Discussion of business models of dominant ISPs and their effect on content localization.
- Suggestion to include data from India due to policy changes mandating IXP interconnection.
Democratizing Cellular Access (Ji Hung Lui):
- The Selbricks architecture: enabling on-demand cellular access without pre-established trust.
- Offloading user management and mobility support out of the network.
- Spectrum considerations and regulatory trends.
- Incentives for different stakeholders (BTELCOs, brokers, users).
- Discussion of potential competition from incumbent operators.
- Suggestion of Malaysia's 5G spectrum ownership model.
- Discussion of peak time usage challenges.
- Discussion of managing user mobility when IP addresses change routinely.
Computing within Limits (Barath Raghavan):
- The broader societal and ecological implications of networking.
- Efficiency paradox and the need for more than just efficiency improvements.
- Resource constraints and the potential for a "pollution crisis".
- The role of computing in shaping sustainable societies.
- Applying systems perspectives to areas like agriculture.
- Integrated systems approach to network rollout.
Improving Internet Connectivity in Nepal (Naveed Haq):
- Challenges faced by Sherpa communities in accessing the Internet.
- Deployment of a Wi-Fi network and a fiber optic network.
- Community involvement in the deployment.
- Sustainability of the network through user fees.
- The high cost of bandwidth in Nepal due to its landlocked status.
- Discussion of Starlink's potential impact on connectivity.

Decisions and Action Items

Innocent Obi to share his email address in the chat for follow-up questions.
Curtis Hymerl and Innocent Obi to coordinate answering remaining questions in the chat.
Innocent Obi to be contacted by Matt Mathis regarding measurement lab data.
Rajeev and Ji Hung Lui to connect offline regarding the Malaysia 5G spectrum ownership model
Review utopia Networks the US and the structural separation research.

Next Steps

Curtis Hymerl and Jane Coffin to reboot the Gaia chat and mailing list.
Discussion on remote peering to be a primary topic in the Gaia mailing list.
Explore potential benefits and challenges of remote peering and ways to encourage more beneficial network development.