Africa’s Continental Internet Exchange: Faster, Cheaper, and Built at Home

Artificial Intelligence - Prompt by Leonard Jefferson
Sep 15
5 min read

Short version: Africa is building a stronger way to move Internet traffic inside the continent. This effort—often called the Continental Internet Exchange (CIX)—connects countries directly to each other through fiber cables, data centers, and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) so your data no longer needs to leave Africa before coming back. That means lower costs, faster speeds, and better data protection for everyone. [1][2]

Important note: Many news sites are using “CIX” as a simple name for a bigger, long‑running push led by the African Union (AU) and partners to keep African traffic local (for example, the AU’s AXIS program, plus new IXP upgrades by ICANN and the Internet Society). There isn’t yet an AU page titled “Continental Internet Exchange,” but the goal—local traffic staying in Africa—is very real and already underway. [1][2]

What is it, in plain English?

Think of the Internet like roads. For a long time, if someone in Kenya sent a message to someone in Nigeria, the “road” often detoured through Europe before returning to Africa. That made trips longer and more expensive. With CIX‑style connections and IXPs, traffic can stay on African roads most of the time. This cuts delay (latency), lowers bandwidth bills, and improves reliability. [1]

Why it matters:

Speed: Shorter paths = faster pages and calls. [1]
Cost: Local traffic is cheaper than sending it overseas. [1][2]
Security & privacy: More data can be hosted and routed under African rules. [3][4]

Who is participating?

Participation is AU‑wide. The AU has 55 member states, and the CIX idea is for all of them because everyone benefits when traffic can move locally first. [6]

To make this happen, countries run (or are setting up) IXPs—the “meet‑up points” where networks exchange data. By early 2023, Africa had active IXPs in about 36 countries, and more are being upgraded through the Coalition for Digital Africa (ICANN + Internet Society). [7][2]

Early regional hubs often mentioned include Nairobi (Kenya), Lagos (Nigeria), and Cape Town (South Africa)—places with busy IXPs and data centers that already move a lot of traffic and can anchor broader routes. (Media reports use “CIX” to describe this growing mesh.) [8]

AU Member States expected to participate (all 55):

Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon,
Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Republic), Côte d’Ivoire, D.R. Congo,
Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia,
Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi,
Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles,
Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia,
Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe[6]

Reality check: Not every country is at the same stage. Some already have large IXPs (like Kenya’s KIXP or Nigeria’s IXPN), while others are building or upgrading. That’s normal—what matters is that every country has a path to plug in. [9][2]

What improves for people and businesses?

1) Everyday speed & reliability\ If your video class in Ghana connects to a server in Côte d’Ivoire, keeping the path within West Africa means less buffering and fewer drops. Local IXPs were created exactly to improve those experiences by exchanging traffic nearby. [1][2]

2) Lower prices over time\ When providers don’t have to pay as much for international transit, they can pass savings on to schools, clinics, startups, and families. That is the core design of IXPs: cut costs by keeping traffic local. [1][2]

3) Stronger data protection and sovereignty\ If more African data stays on African servers and routes, it becomes easier to protect it under African laws and best‑practice guidelines. AU bodies are actively discussing data rules to support this. [4][3]

4) Jobs and local innovation\ Cheaper, faster connectivity helps local cloud services, e‑commerce, and developer ecosystems grow. AU and partner programs explicitly link IXPs to economic opportunity and regional trade. [1][2]

What’s already built—and what’s next?

What’s built:

The AU’s AXIS program helped countries set up IXPs and train engineers, boosting the number of countries with IXPs over the 2010s. [5][10]
The Coalition for Digital Africa (ICANN + Internet Society) launched a 2023 initiative to enhance five existing IXPs with targeted upgrades, managers, and training—so they can handle more local and cross‑border traffic. [2][11]
As of early 2023, there were 51 active IXPs in 47 cities across 36 African countries (and growing), showing a continent moving from dependence on overseas routes to stronger local paths. [7]

What’s next (2025–2027):

More on‑ramps: Expect more countries to add or upgrade IXPs and connect to regional hubs so traffic can take “all‑African” routes more often. [2]
Policy alignment: AU work on digital trade and data guidance (for example, how to handle cross‑border data) will help countries build shared rules that encourage local hosting and peering. [4]
Resilience: Stronger local routing also helps during global cable cuts or outages, because more services can keep running inside the continent. That’s one reason IXPs and local paths are a top priority for partners like the Internet Society. [2]

Some news outlets have described a September 2025 “go‑live” for a “Continental Internet Exchange,” highlighting Nairobi, Lagos, and Cape Town as early hubs and suggesting a push toward continent‑wide coverage by 2027. Treat that as media shorthand for the broader AU‑led connectivity push (AXIS + regional upgrades), rather than a single switch flipped on one day. The direction, however—keep African traffic in Africa—matches what AU and partners have been building for years. [8][1]

A quick visual: how local routing saves time and money

BEFORE (old path)
Lagos ──> London/Frankfurt ──> Nairobi  (long, expensive)

AFTER (local path via IXPs)
Lagos ──> Lagos IXP ──> Regional Hub ──> Nairobi IXP  (shorter, cheaper)

Local IXPs reduce distance and international transit costs, which is exactly why AU, ICANN, and the Internet Society are investing in them. [1][2]

What should people watch for?

New IXPs or IXP upgrades announced by national regulators and network groups. These are the “on‑ramps” to the continental network. [2]
Peering and hosting moving closer to users (for example, more content caches and local cloud). This improves speed for streaming, gaming, and video calls. [1]
Data and digital trade rules from AU bodies that make it easier—and safer—to keep data in Africa while still connecting to the world. [4]