The sad truth about today’s Internet population

The world isn’t a fair place, and yet another way this is laid bare is the huge differences shown in Internet penetration among the population of the various world regions. We thought it would be interesting to see what kind of an effect this is having on the world Internet population of today.

First some quick observations before we head on to more charts, just to give you an idea of how level the playing field is NOT:

• Today’s world Internet penetration is 24.7%.
• North America, with only 5% of the world’s population, has 15% of the world Internet population thanks to having the world’s largest Internet penetration with 73.9% (largest for a world region, but there are individual countries with a higher percentage).
• If Asia had the same Internet penetration as North America, it would have 2.81 billion Internet users. That’s 1.7 times the current Internet population of the entire world (1.67 billion).
• If the entire world had the same Internet penetration as North America, the world Internet population would be 5 billion people.

There are lots of interesting “what if” scenarios like the above, but we don’t want to get too carried away or we’ll never get to the main part of this post, which is to look at how the differences in Internet penetration have affected the division of the Internet population as a whole.

World population share vs. Internet population share

What happens when you compare how the actual world population is divided with how the world’s Internet users are divided?

First off, here below is a pie chart that shows the share each world region has of the planet’s 6.77 billion people. This is also what the division of the Internet population would look like if the Internet penetration were equal all over the world, but of course it isn’t.

Now let’s look at the ACTUAL division of the world Internet population.

Thanks to the different levels of Internet penetration the balance shifts drastically. This is the share each region has of the world’s 1.67 billion Internet users:

Look at how Africa dwindles, look at how Asia shrinks. Giants in terms of population, but the weight of those populations are greatly diminished online. In contrast, regions like Europe and North America swell past the actual weight of their populations. You could say the Internet is a different world, one where the population truly reflects the different levels of industrialization in the world.

We could throw more statistics your way, but we’ll call it a day this time.

It’s when we see this kind of data that we really count ourselves lucky to live in Sweden, which has an Internet penetration of 80% and decent broadband connections for more or less anyone who wants it.

(Oops, another statistic . . .)

End-to-end 4G networks

WiMAX provides an immediate solution to deliver broadband services to areas poorly served or not served at all by existing telecom infrastructure. In particular, in developing regions many new second and third tier operators can deploy WiMAX cost effectively to serve residential and business users with broadband services including internet access, voice over IP and video on demand.

The StarMAX portfolio of WiMAX Forum Certified wireless broadband access products provides a comprehensive end-to-end WiMAX solution that fully integrates and optimizes WiMAX access, wireless backhaul and complementary core network elements. Together with comprehensive management systems and a complete suite of turnkey network services, Harris Stratex Networks can deliver a properly engineered and fully deployed WiMAX network, providing operators with everything that they need, including the highest level of service quality and top-tier customer service that they may not find from other vendors.

Harris Stratex now provides a comprehensive end-to-end WiMAX solution that fully integrates and optimizes WiMAX access, wireless backhaul and complementary core network elements. Together with comprehensive management systems and a complete suite of turnkey network services, Harris Stratex Networks can deliver a properly engineered and fully deployed WiMAX network, providing operators with everything that they need, including a level of service, quality and attention that they may not find from other vendors.

Our solution consists includes best-of-class components to provide a complete WiMAX ecosystem:

• Market leading and industry-standards compliant WiMAX base station and subscriber units for fixed, nomadic and mobile applications, including 450 MHz support for cost effective deployments in sparsely populated rural areas.
• Advanced Carrier Ethernet over Wireless for high capacity IP backhaul with scalable link speeds up to 1.5 Gbit/s and intelligent Layer 2 Ethernet features.
• Best-of-class core-network elements that enable deployment of large scalable networks of mobile, nomadic and fixed WiMAX services, including ASN (Application Services Network) and CSN (Connectivity Services Network).
• Our Wireless Services Gateway (WSG) is an innovative solution that combines field-proven IP routing with ASN functions for a radio-agnostic converged IP core network solution for any GSM, GPRS, HSPA, WiMAX and LTE network.
• Integrated Network Management system (INMS), based on our NetBoss™ service assurance platform.
• Complete portfolio of turnkey services, including business consulting, network design, site and project engineering, field deployment, network integration, provisioning and optimization, maintenance and managed network services.

ASN-GW configuration

The entire WiMAX network under the same ASN GW must have the same IP subnet. So, all WiMAX interfaces for the BS nodes under the same ASN GW must have an IP address configured under the same IP subnet.
There are two steps for ASN-GW configuration:

Step 1: Configure IP routing parameters
Step 2: Configure GRE tunnel information

IP Routing configuration
1. Right-click on the Router and click edit
2. Click on the IP routing parameters drop down menu
3. In the IP Routing Parameters table, click on Interface information and configure IP address and subnet mask under “Address” (192.0.1.2) and “Subnet Mask” (255.255.255.0)

GRE Tunnel Configuration
1. Repeat steps 1 and 2 above.
2. Click on Tunnel interface instead of Interface information
3. Under “Name”, give a unique name for your tunnel e.g. Tunnel A.
4. Under “Address” configure an IP address but different from the IP address configure in IP Routing. For example 192.1.1.2. Also choose the subnet mask from the drop-down menu.
5. Under “Tunnel Information” click edit and a new window opens.
6. Under “Tunnel source”, type the address that was configured in the IP routing interface i.e. 192.0.1.2
7. Under “Tunnel destination”, type the address that will match the IP address configured in BS IP interface.
8. Under “Tunnel Mode”, choose GRE.

BS configuration
1. Repeat the same steps as above for IP routing and GRE tunnel configuration and make sure the addresses are in the same subnet. For example, the ASN-GW IP addresses are 192.0.1.2 (IP interface) and 192.1.1.2 (Tunnel interface). For the BS, the addresses would be 192.0.1.3 (IP interface) and 192.1.1.3 (Tunnel Interface).
2. Under “Tunnel Source”, type the address that was configured in the IP routing interface i.e. 192.0.1.3
3. Under “Tunnel destination”, type the address that will match the IP address configured in ASN-GW IP interface.
4. Note: Click on “BS Parameters” menu and type the “ASN Gateway IP address” which in this case will be 192.0.1.2.

You do not need to configure Route Maps and in order to check that your GRE tunnels are correctly configured, you have to click on Network Visualiser.

XConnect partners with GSMA on IP routing options

XConnect, a specialist in neutral Voice over IP (VoIP) and Next Generation Network (NGN) interconnection and registry services, today announced it has entered into an agreement with the GSM Association (GSMA) to enable interoperability between XConnect's ENUM Registry Services and the GSMA's PathFinder number translation service operated by Neustar.

Claimed to be an industry first, the agreement allows XConnect customers to query PathFinder for call routing information and also to allow their numbers to be published to the GSMA Carrier ENUM community. XConnect's new SuperQuery feature is said to be completely transparent and seamless for end users.

"Our agreement with the GSMA regarding its PathFinder service initiative reflects our strategy and the widely anticipated trend toward registry interoperability - and through that, universal routing of IP-based services," said Eli Katz, CEO and founder of XConnect. "With one query to the XConnect registry, service providers now have the opportunity to launch and provision rich voice and data services between fixed and mobile networks."

"The GSMA is delighted to be working with XConnect to provide customers with the ability to enable PathFinder queries via XConnect's Carrier ENUM registry," said Adrian Dodd, chief engineer at the GSMA. "This is another step forward in unlocking the revenue potential of IP-based networks by enabling them to deliver new rich and convergent services to businesses and consumers quickly and efficiently, regardless of their network or device type."

By enabling PathFinder queries via XConnect, service providers will simplify the querying, routing and interoperability process and eliminate the need for separate, complex commercial and technical agreements.

XConnect's SuperQuery feature is available as an option to XConnect customers through existing federation-based interconnection services - Global Alliance and National Federations, including the market-leading federations in the Netherlands and South Korea.

XConnect enables service providers to simplify the interconnect process and enable the deployment of revenue-generating, IP-based multimedia services across networks by more efficiently routing calls to their subscribers via ENUM registry queries. This allows service providers to leverage their number assets as they migrate away from expensive legacy SS7/C7 routing. The agreement with the GSMA extends the number of IP endpoints that can be reached by customers of both partners.

Launched in November 2008 by the GSMA and operated by Neustar, the GSMA's PathFinder service initiative is based on Carrier ENUM technology and acts as a central directory where operators can share mobile and fixed-line addresses to enable accurate and cost-effective routing of packet voice, instant messaging, multimedia services, email and video. The PathFinder service is available to mobile and fixed service providers as well as the full value chain including carriers, IPXs, hubs, ISPs, content providers and application providers. In addition, the GSMA's PathFinder initiative also encompasses an Industry Partner Programme, which is designed to ensure that next-generation infrastructure vendors around the globe have an industry vehicle with which to verify interoperability with ENUM-based routing.

Communications software solutions provider

Trillium Digital Systems is the leading provider of communications software solutions for the converged network infrastructure. Trillium's source code solutions are used in more than 500 projects by industry-leading suppliers of wireless, Internet, broadband and telephony products.

Trillium's high-performance, high-availability software and services reduce the time, risk and cost of implementing SS7, IP, H.323, MGCP, ATM, Wireless and other standards-based communications protocols.
Trillium actively participates in the development of 3rd generation systems by developing standards-based wireless communications protocols. It is likely that the first 3G mobile terminals will be multi-mode devices, which means that they will support a number of 2nd generation protocol standards in order to reach wide network coverage and to provide 3rd generation advanced services. Trillium has extensive know-how in all the major communications protocol standards in the world and can provide solutions for many types of networks.

Trillium designs all its portable software products using the Trillium Advanced Portability Architecture (TAPAä), a set of architectural and coding standards that ensure the software is completely independent of the compiler, processor, operating system and architecture of the target system. This makes Trillium products portable, consistent, reliable, high quality, high performance, flexible, and scaleable. This architecture also ensures that all Trillium protocols can interwork seamlessly in the same or between different networks.
As mentioned above, successful implementation, adoption, and overall acceptance of the 3G wireless networks depends largely on the ability of these new mobile networks to interface and interwork with the existing 2G and legacy networks currently deployed worldwide. Trillium offers a broad range of protocols for first- and second-generation mobile networks, legacy networks, and fixed networks. Trillium's products allow wireless communications equipment manufacturers to develop "best-in-class" next-generation mobile networks, to ensure success of the network operator and service provider, and to ensure wide acceptance of the new services by end-users.
Additional information is available at http://www.trillium.com.