This is the company’s fourth IXP in Africa, adding to Lagos, Nigeria; Cape Town, South Africa and Djibouti.
Louis Carver (pictured), the former PCCW Global executive who is chief commercial officer of AFR-IX telecom, said: “Our peering policy places us at multiple and major internet exchanges in Europe, North America and firmly in Africa. Today, we have added the Asteroid IX in Mombasa to our already growing peering community across the continent.”
The company said that the Asteroid Mombasa IXP was a valuable partner for east Africa. “In just one year of operation, it has connected more than 15 networks of all sizes and origins: Kenyan ISPs, content providers and networks operating in Mauritius and Rwanda.”
Mombasa is one of the main landing sites for subsea cables from the Indian Ocean. Five cables currently land there and they will be joined by the 2Africa cable, and Africa-1, both due to be ready for service in 2023.
AFR-IX telecom said that the activation of this last IXP in Kenya “is strategic for the company, as it facilitates peering Kenyan ISPs as well as international networks, thus reinforcing connectivity in the Eastern sub-region of the continent in a location, Mombasa, which is set to become a major gateway for submarine fiber optic cables and is already emerging as one of the main hubs for internet traffic in East Africa”.
AFR-IX telecom has more than 50 points of presence in Africa, Europe and America. Asteroid operates neutral internet exchange points worldwide, working with trusted parties in local markets.
