[kictanet] African Union (AU) Selects the ISOC to Support establishment of Internet Exchange Points across Africa.

[Dorcas Muthoni]

Great...Michuki, Kevin and Dawit,

I am sure you will do a great job in steering this!

On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 3:11 PM, <alice at apc.org> wrote:

> Great initiative and partnership. Congratulations AUC and ISOC.
> Best
> Alice
> ----------------------------
> African Union (AU) Selects the Internet society to Support
> Establishment of Internet Exchange Points across Africa.  Project includes
> 60 capacity building workshops in 30 countries
>
> [Johannesburg, South Africa --23 August 2012] – The Internet Society
> today announced that it has been selected by the African Union (AU) to
> conduct community mobilization and technical aspects workshops to
> support the establishment of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in AU
> Member States as part of the African Internet Exchange System (AXIS)
> project. The AXIS project aims at keeping Africa’s Internet traffic
> local to the continent by providing capacity building and technical
> assistance to facilitate the establishment of National Internet
> Exchange Points and Regional Internet Exchange Points in Africa. The
> project is funded by the Euro-Africa Infrastructure Fund and the
> Government of Luxembourg.
>
> The Internet Society is committed to organizing 60 community
> mobilization and technical aspects workshops in 30 African countries.
> To this effect, the Internet Society will also contribute its own
> resources for the implementation of this component of the AXIS
> project.
>
> Currently, much of Africa’s Internet traffic is routed through
> Internet exchange points external to the African continent. As
> countries establish their own IXPs, Internet traffic will be routed
> locally, creating a downward pressure on costs and stimulating growth
> in and distribution of local Internet content. Through the AXIS
> project, the interests of the AU and the Internet Society, working
> with other African Internet organizations such as AfriNIC, AfNOG, and
> AftLD, will be realized in this collaborative effort to assist in the
> development of a more locally operated and, hence, more robust and
> economically accessible pan-African Internet.
>
> Moctar Yedaly, Head of Information Society Division, African Union
> Commission, commented,“Africa is paying overseas carriers to exchange
> ‘local’ (continental) traffic. This is both a costly as well as an
> inefficient way of handling inter-country exchange of Internet
> traffic. Independent analysis has shown that Africa pays over US$600
> Million to developed countries every year for inter-African traffic
> exchange that is carried outside the continent. We are therefore
> pleased that the African Internet Exchange System project will address
> this challenge by facilitating optimization of Internet traffic to
> support intra-continental traffic flows in Africa.”
>
> Dawit Bekele, Internet Society Regional Bureau Director for Africa,
> stated, “We are very excited to be selected by the African Union to
> support the growth of IXPs throughout Africa.  We believe the AXIS
> project is extremely important to the continued health of the Internet
> ecosystem in Africa, and building the technical infrastructure and
> training the people to sustain it are fundamental to extending the
> Internet in Africa. Partnering with the African Union on the AXIS
> project is central to the Internet Society’s mission to ensure the
> open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit
> of people everywhere.”
>
> The Internet Society has provided technical training in Africa since
> the early 1990s, and supports the development of human and technical
> capacity to build reliable and sustainable Internet infrastructure in
> Africa and around the world. The organization’s African Bureau was
> started in 2006. With 24 Chapters, the Internet Society African Bureau
> works to promote capacity building and the responsible development of
> the Internet throughout Africa. Its principle focus is improving
> interconnection and traffic exchange within the continent through the
> implementation of IXPs, network training, and capacity building.
>
> Link:
> http://www.internetsociety.org/news/african-unionau-selects-internet-society-support-establishment-internet-exchange-points-across
> _
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-- 
Muthoni

My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/
--------------------------------------------
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Then they laugh at you,
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