Internet Society, Facebook partner to expand Africa internet
The Internet Society
(https://www.InternetSociety.org/), a global non-profit organization dedicated
to the open development, evolution and use of the Internet, has announced that
it is partnering with Facebook to develop internet exchange points throughout
Africa.
An IXP is where multiple local
and international networks, ISPs and content providers interconnect their
networks together to efficiently exchange internet traffic through an arrangement
commonly referred to as peering.
Currently, 42% of countries in
Africa lack IXPs, which means that most of their domestic internet traffic is
exchanged through points outside their respective countries, usually through satellite
or submarine fiber across multiple international hubs to reach their
destination.
This can result in poor end-user
experiences and discourages hosting content locally, which are some of the key
factors towards the development of the local internet ecosystem.
Peering at IXPs helps keep
domestic internet traffic local by offloading traffic from relatively expensive
international links onto more affordable local links. As a result, ISPs are
able to offer improved internet experiences for end-users and spur interest in
hosting content locally.
The Internet Society and Facebook
will collaborate in promoting IXP infrastructure development, training and
community engagement with the objective of increasing the number of IXPs and
supporting the expansion of existing IXPs to meet the growing demand in Africa.
Studies have shown that (http://bit.ly/2xAuPDe)
internet users throughout Africa benefit from peering as it enables faster,
more affordable and reliable access to content.
“The internet community adopted
the goal of having at least 80% of the internet traffic consumed in Africa
being locally accessible, and only 20% sourced outside the continent by the
year 2020,” explains Dawit Bekele, Africa Regional Bureau Director for the
Internet Society. “We are getting closer
to that target thanks to the many activities that promote interconnection and
hosting in Africa and to partnerships such as this one with Facebook.”
According to the Africa IXP
Association (Af-IX), there are approximately 44 active IXPs located across 32
countries in Africa. This has resulted
in a 275% growth of locally exchanged internet traffic over the last 10 years
(there were 16 IXPs in 2008). During the same period, traffic exchanged at the
African IXPs increased from 0.16Gbps to 412Gbps with over 800 networks now
connected at these IXPs (http://bit.ly/2zrXk77).
“We admire the Internet Society's
important work to improve connectivity in Africa by supporting IXPs,” said Kojo
Boakye, Head, Connectivity and Access, Africa at Facebook. “Our partnership
with the Internet Society will help develop Africa's IXP ecosystem by deploying
resources like training and equipment to the areas where they are most urgently
needed.”
About the Internet Society
Founded by internet pioneers, the
Internet Society (ISOC) (www.InternetSociety.org) is a non-profit organization
dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the internet.
Working through a global community of chapters and members, it collaborates
with a broad range of groups to promote the technologies that keep the internet
safe and secure, and advocates for policies that enable universal access. It’s
also the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
Comments
Post a Comment