ISOC and AfriNIC to support Africa exchange points

The Internet Society (ISOC) and the Africa Network Information Center (AfriNIC) are collaborating on a project to establish national IXPs (Internet exchange points) in Africa to reduce the cost of Internet connectivity.

The project will help African countries establish IXPs and make the existing ones more visible, said AfriNIC CEO Adiel Akplogan.

"The idea is to develop the local infrastructure and for local Internet users to know the value of using the exchange points," he said. "The IXPs will eventually offer better fast communication share, more content and add value to the people."

Out of 56 African countries, only 15 have national exchange points. The absence of a national exchange point makes communication more expensive, given that most of the accessed content may be local, said Michuki Mwangi, senior education manager at ISOC.

"The process of setting up an IXP is lengthy; there are regulatory, policy and issues of mutual understanding between the operators," Mwangi said.

Models of IXP ownership vary by country. In South Africa and Kenya, for example, the national exchange points are owned by the private sector, while the Egyptian IXP is owned by the government. The ownership structure for new IXPs will be determined based on what has proved successful in the past, Mwangi said.

The project aims to improve the overall performance and visibility of IXPs by helping countries deploy a copy of the root server, which would make accessing the Internet easier and faster.

If successful, ISOC and AfriNIC will move to interconnect the national exchange points to regional exchange points, which will promote regional interaction and e-commerce.