Suggestions for establishing an IXP in KSA

Last Wednesday I replied to CITC (KSA telecommunication Authority) with the recommendation of establishing an Internet Exchange in the Kingdom. I hope that it is an appropriate response that serves the development of the Internet in the Kingdom. Those who wish to read the full reply can find it in “IIXP Establishment in KSA“. I will try to summarize it in the following points:

1. Having a consortium of main ISPs, national and international content providers, main Telecom hotel licensees, and at least one FBP lead by CITC to create the first IIXP.
2. Invite international content providers to participate in this IXP.
3. Open the door to anyone with ASN (Autonomous System Number) to participate in the IXP.
4. Limiting the IXP to a single city and certain number of locations per city to stop it from competing with data service providers.
5. Release a regulation for the content hosted inside saudi arabia.

In the end, the presence of a neutral entity that hosts the content in the Kingdom relieves the owners of local sites (especially the large ones like the newspapers) from the problem of satisfying the data service providers. They may choose to host their content in an international facility to reduce costs and to satisfy all parties.

Again, the full reply can be found in” IIXP Establishment in KSA“.