Analysis of the Serengeti Broadband Network

Abstract

Internet access is intermittent and very expensive in remoteareas in the developing world. The access is still mainly pro-vided via satellite links to other continents and, although thetransition to terrestrial networks has started, it will taketime to reach the under-served areas. To understand thelocal needs and traffic patterns in rural areas, we have an-alyzed Internet web traffic logs captured over a year froma municipal network deployed in remote areas in Tanzania.The web traffic logs analysis was complemented by user sur-veys on their actual usage.Our analysis reveals that popularity of social networkingand news websites increases over time.We have noticed manyother contents such as advertisements which we consider notrelevant to developing regions but consume the little band-width they have. Based on the insights gained from theanalysis, we have provided recommendations on how to op-timize the little bandwidth available. Further, we have de-ployed some of the recommendations in the current system.QC 2011100