Investments lead to regional African interconnection

Previously, most online content was directed through Internet exchange points in Europe nevertheless the trend is changing in favor of regional and local traffic exchange for African ISPs, mobile phone service providers and government agencies.

The Kenya Revenue Authority

The Kenya Revenue Authority, for instance, is connected to the Kenya Internet Exchange Point. Government agencies are offering services online, which has led to more people accessing the Web.

Google, SEACOM, Cisco, Dimension Data, Internet Society and Internet Solutions are some of the companies driving the growth of interconnectivity in the region by channeling content locally and building Internet Points of Presence.

Cisco and Dimension Data were involved in the design and deployment of the IP network and the faster download and streaming speed is expected to raise demand for local services and content as companies push services beyond urban areas.

Entry of the SEACOM and the TEAMS fiber optic cables in Eastern Africa has led to affordable connectivity and growth in competition from mobile operators, who have now become large ISPs because of their extensive network coverage.

The larger ISPs exchanging content at KIXP

Internet Solutions is one of the larger ISPs exchanging content at KIXP and is looking at gaming and cloud services to increase the amount of capacity it handles.

"Internet Solutions will host gaming servers that will allow local gamers to connect locally and to incentivize the uptake on this, IS will allow free access to these servers," said Collin Mamdoo, chief operations officer at Internet Solutions Kenya.

Internet Solutions is involved in a campaign to encourage businesses to explore local solutions just as hosted PABX solutions, outsourced security and other applications provided pursuant to this agreement its cloud services portfolio.