The Internet Society
(ISOC) and African IXP Association (AFIX) have concluded
partnership in support of the 9th annual Africa Peering and Interconnection
Forum (AfPIF) slated for Cape Town, South Africa in August this year, reports
ITRealms.
The forum, ITRealms gathered will be hosted by the Internet Service Providers’ Association
(ISPA) between August 21 and 23, 2018 in conjunction with iWeek, South Africa’s
leading Internet industry conference, which will run from 20-24 August 2018.
AfPIF is an annual event that serves as a platform to expand
and develop the African Internet. It connects infrastructure, service, and
content providers with policymakers in order to identify and discuss ways to
improve network interconnection, lower the cost of connectivity, and increase
the number of users in the region. Over 200 participants attended last year’s
AfPIF in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire including providers of international, regional,
and sub-regional transport, transit, and content as well as more than 20 IXPs
from Africa and beyond.
This year’s event will be hosted in South Africa, home to
the oldest Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in Africa, the highest density of IXPs
per city in Africa, and the largest carrier neutral data center in Africa. As a
thriving terrestrial infrastructure market and the continent’s most mature
peering ecosystem, South Africa will provide a unique opportunity for attendees
to learn from its remarkable experiences and explore a growing number of
opportunities in the region.
“The African IXP Association has been absolutely amazed by
South Africa’s rapid development and is proud to host this year’s AfPIF in Cape
Town. We all benefit from their innovation and continued success, and hope that
our collective presence will provide additional momentum” said Kyle Spencer, Co-Coordinator
of the African IXP Association.
“We are delighted to be hosting AfPIF at iWeek for the very
first time. This is a fantastic example of the kind of pan-African ICT
cooperation envisioned by the Abuja and OR Tambo declarations of the
1990s," said ISPA Chair, Graham Beneke.
“The first AfPIF was held in 2010 by the Internet Society
from the realization that most of African Internet traffic is exchanged outside
the continent, and the region could save costs by exchanging the Internet
traffic locally. The target is to have at least 80% of the Internet traffic
consumed in Africa being locally accessible, and only 20% sourced outside the
continent by the year 2020. We are getting closer to that target every year
thanks to AfPIF and many activities that promote interconnection and hosting in
Africa”, says Dawit Bekele, Regional Bureau Director for Africa at Internet
Society.
Internet Peering is a business relationship whereby two
network operators agree to provide access to each other’s network at no cost.
Internet users throughout Africa benefit from Peering as it enables faster,
more affordable, and more reliable access to content.
Chuks Egbune/GEE
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