Infrastructure Indicators as a Window into Understanding International Internet Growth and Development

For international Internet service, indicators of this second type are difficult to obtain. In the long run, developing such reliable information will inform international debates about the Internet. In this paper, we focus on one such indicator autonomous system numbers (ASN). The number of ASN’s in a country can be thought of as a proxy for the level of competition and level of complexity of the national Internet service market. An enterprise, such as an Internet service provider or other enterprise, needs an ASN when it once to connect directly to at least two other networks. In other words, an enterprise needs an ASN if it is not willing to rely solely on one service provider for Internet connectivity. Such an enterprise is not just a customer of Internet service, therefore, but uses some wholesale telecommunications capacity or services. Therefore, a country with a large number of ASNs has a large number of enterprises that have a complex relationship to the Internet