Africa still faces many challenges when it comes to boosting connectivity, but Kenya has emerged at the forefront of the region’s technology and e-commerce industries in recent years. As such, it constitutes a location with big potential to spur growth throughout the rest of the continent.
The country’s ambition is shown by the government’s Kenya Vision 2030 strategy, which aims to transform the nation into a newly industrialising middle-income country by the end of the decade. At the same time, Kenya still has significant room for digital growth, with internet penetration currently standing at around 40% of the population.
Recent developments in the market promise to accelerate things not just there, but also trigger growth across Africa. One of these triggers was the London Internet Exchange (LINX) launching its first African interconnection hub across three data-centre locations in Kenyan capital Nairobi last November.
A further major milestone was Meta then joining the hub this May, which the company expects will help take things to the next level. “In the next six months, we should hopefully have another couple of these massive global content players coming into Nairobi partly because of that,” says Jennifer Holmes, chief commercial officer at LINX.
Chicken and egg
Holmes describes the initial circumstances in many emerging markets as a “chicken-and-egg” situation, whereby access networks may be reluctant to join an internet hub that lacks content players and vice versa. That means it takes conviction and foresight from one or two key players to kick-start things by moving in, after which others follow suit.
“Meta taking that leap of faith has been brilliant,” says Holmes. “It’s a great partnership for us because Meta really believes in that community-building, and going in and working with the local players. The company is passionate about growth in Africa and works in a very collaborative way. This type of move also creates a ripple effect by hopefully encouraging other global players to follow, meaning more peering opportunities at internet exchanges like LINX Nairobi for the local ISP community.”
That momentum is indeed ballooning, with LINX Nairobi having already connected more than a dozen players, comprising a mix of both international and local companies. These include BICS and pan-African ISP AFR-IX, as well as the likes of Kenyan firms ICON Fiber, Mtaani Telecom, Mymanga Networks and PepeaNet. Holmes says another 10 to 20 players are in the process of connecting, while many other conversations are taking place about linking more up.
Holmes also cites the growing submarine-cable ecosystem landing in Mombasa on the coast south-east of Nairobi, with six active subsea cables currently reaching Kenya and providing well-connected pathways to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. “The recent growth in activity and connectivity has been through the roof, especially in the last three or four years,” she says. “A lot of local ISP and wireless ISP networks have also been popping up, along with increasing satellite internet coverage.”
Linking the continent
The promise that LINX sees not only in Kenya, but also in other African markets, is reflected in the fact that the company has further rapid plans for expansion in the region. Apart from looking to grow its footprint in Nairobi itself, Holmes says that LINX is exploring opportunities in additional countries, with the aim of deploying more sites in the coming months and years.
This follows LINX’s establishment last year of a strategic partnership with Africa Data Centres to explore growth opportunities in the region, among many other partnership conversations. In turn, that came after Africa Data Centres unveiled plans to invest US$500 million in many new hyperscale data centres across the continent, showing the burgeoning potential seen by players there.
Meanwhile, although connectivity is easier to achieve on the coast, where subsea cables are landing, Holmes believes the momentum provided by such developments will eventually spill across the borders into locations where it is still lacking. That will be driven by the increasing demand for low-latency, high-speed digital services and improved interconnectivity.
And Holmes believes the growth will happen despite the big hurdles that remain to bridging the digital divide in Africa, including the continent’s sheer scale, and the significant political and regulatory barriers that remain in many countries. That’s because, at the end of the day, many players at both a global and local level across the region are committed to making things work.
“The potential is huge,” says Holmes. “With a lot of investment being driven into Africa, there’s a real enthusiasm to advance, and therefore an openness to collaboration and partnerships. Those are the real takeaways we’ve had from the last 12 to 18 months working in the region.”
Catch up with the LINX team or Jennifer Holmes at ITW Africa stand 301.
