The neutral IX will be hosted by UNITED, an Internet connectivity and web hosting provider based in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and managed by the non-governmental organisation, ‘Internet pour tous’ (Internet for all).
“Boosted by a large population and a promising digital ecosystem, the DRC’s and in particular Kinshasa’s Internet usage is booming, with growth of close to 30% year-on-year. However, the market is still underserved due to the high price of Internet connectivity and the lack of advanced interconnection services,” said Mohamad H. Ibrahim from UNITED.
“With ACIX, networks can exchange data locally and build a local ecosystem. Previously, for networks in East and West Africa to exchange data, the data needed to travel all the way down to South Africa and back up again. Having already worked with DE-CIX, we know their professionality and the improvement in data speeds resulting from connecting to them. Bringing together DE-CIX’s expertise in building IXs with UNITED’s experience in all types of connectivity in the African environment is a winning combination for the betterment of the Internet in the DRC and across Africa.”
Launched in a ceremony yesterday, ACIX is in the process of onboarding its first eleven networks, with plans to interconnect networks from all countries bordering the DRC.
The new IX will be operated by DE-CIX on behalf of ‘Internet pour tous’, as part of the DE-CIX-as-a-Service (DaaS) program. The DaaS program includes installation, maintenance, provisioning, marketing and sales support.
“DE-CIX is proud to support ‘Internet pour tous’ and UNITED in the operation of ACIX, which is set to become an African crossroads for intra and inter-continental traffic flows,” says Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX.
“With Southern Europe building a bridge for international content and applications being delivered to Africa, ACIX will also create digital opportunities for Africa by aggregating African networks currently fragmented across neighboring countries. This will allow the DRC to unleash the potential of its emerging digital economy by providing better performance and user experience of clouds, content and applications, and affordable and high-quality Internet access for enterprises and people.”
