The Status Of IXPs In Africa: Failure Or Success?

Abstract

The importance of the Internet requires its use in all parts of the world. It is used in various fields. Thus, various technologies are being put in place for the improvement of the Internet ecosystem. One of the main technologies is the Internet Exchange Point (IXP). An IXP is an infrastructure where a multitude of networks connects to exchange traffic. All regions of the world have IXPs. IXPs have shown their importance in Europe since the 2000s until today. Moreover, Europe has the largest IXP traffic in the world with 278 active IXPs. However, Africa is the region with fewer IXPs. In this paper, we first determine an exhaustive list of active IXPs in Africa. This showed that Africa has only 52 active IXPs. Second, we make a comparative analysis of African IXPs with a giant IXP from Europe. This analysis showed that most African IXPs have failed to maintain local traffic. The success that Europe has had in operating IXPs is not the case for Africa. Finally, this study proposes government policies and some African IXP management techniques that can be adopted for the success of the continent's IXPs.