[kictanet] Fwd: [AfrICANN-discuss] News Release- AfPIF-5: African operators commit to interconnect between countries

Wed Sep 3 15:26:44 EAT 2014

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Betel Hailu <hailu at isoc.org>
Date: Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 3:16 PM
Subject: [AfrICANN-discuss] News Release- AfPIF-5: African operators commit
to interconnect between countries
To: "africann at afrinic.org" <africann at afrinic.org>

 Dear all,

Please find the press release on the fifth African Peering Interconnection
Forum (AFPIF) organized by ISOC in Dakar, Senegal from 26-28 August 2014.

*African operators commit to interconnect between countries*
*AfPIF-5 successfully concluded in Dakar, Senegal *

[Dakar, Senegal– 26-28 August 2014] African Internet Service Providers,
infrastructure providers and Internet Exchange operators committed to
interconnect and share more content within the region at the 5th Africa
Peering and Interconnection Forum organized by the Internet Society.

More than 175 participants drawn from all over Africa and the rest of the
world, gathered for the annual Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum
(AfPIF), which seeks to improve Internet interconnection and traffic
exchange in Africa and contribute to increase quality of access of Internet
as well as reduce the costs of Internet. Currently, most African providers
have to route their Internet traffic through Europe or North America, even
when the traffic is for networks within the continent or within the same
country. As an example, for one to access a Senegalese website from the
Gambia, the connection will have to go through Europe, which negatively
impacts the speed and reliability of the connection.

In the past eight years, Africa has seen a considerable increase in
submarine fiber optic cables as well terrestrial backbones connecting
cities and towns across most African countries. Nevertheless, this
considerable investment has not produced an equally considerable reduction
in the cost of access to the end user nor an increase in local content and
applications. One of the reasons is because the traffic continues to be
routed through Europe and North America just as it did when Africa was
connected to the rest of the world using satellite links.

“With so many of the continent’s networks not directly interconnected,
initiatives to develop capacity for implementing Internet Exchange Points
(IXPs) are critical. The support of country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs)
is also a major priority. The deployment of security solutions and IPv6 are
critically important, as is the development of mobile and wireless Internet
technology,” said Sofie Maddens, Senior Director of Global Services at the
Internet Society.

Dawit Bekele, Director of the African Regional Bureau at the Internet
Society, added, “It is time for the digital integration of Africa. In this
increasingly digital world, direct Internet connection between Africans,
whether within the same country or across different countries, is
critically important for socio-economic development.”

There are many barriers to African Internet interconnection. Many obsolete
laws and regulations are still not favorable for interconnection. Even
though Africa has undeniably considerable content to offer for its citizens
and the rest of the world, most of the content is not yet digitized or
on-line. Even when it is on-line, it is often hosted outside the continent
requiring users to use expensive international bandwidth to access it.
AfPIF addressed the challenges of local content generation and hosting, and
explored ways to change the current status quo of the African traffic in
line with the vision of the Internet Society, which is to have 80% local
traffic in Africa by 2020.

The conference was supported by reputed companies such as Google, AMS-IX,
Netnod, Seacom, DE-CIX, AFRINIC, Liquid Telecom, LINX, dot Africa, Akamai,
France-IX, ARTP and Orange and benefited from speakers from around the
world.

*About the Internet Society*

The Internet Society is the trusted independent source for Internet
information and thought leadership from around the world. It is also the
organizational home for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). With
its principled vision and substantial technological foundation, the
Internet Society promotes open dialogue on Internet policy, technology, and
future development among users, companies, governments, and other
organizations. Working with its members and Chapters around the world, the
Internet Society enables the continued evolution and growth of the Internet
for everyone.

For more information, visit www.internetsociety.org

Media Contact: Betel Hailu, hailu at isoc.org

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-- 
Barrack O. Otieno
+254721325277
+254-20-2498789
Skype: barrack.otieno
http://www.otienobarrack.me.ke/
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