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IXPs Are Critical to Internet Access and Low Connectivity Costs in Africa- Internet Society

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  • Internet economy May Contribute US$80bn to Africa’s GDP By 2025

A new report published today by the Internet Society (www.InternetSociety.org) outlines the state of Internet interconnection in Africa and the critical role Internet Exchange Points (IXP) play in improving access and lowering costs. The report, entitled “Moving towards an interconnected Africa: the 80/20 Initiative,” examines the Internet ecosystem in Africa.

There is an urgent need to increase Internet access across the continent, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, fewer than 1 in 5 households have Internet access (https://bit.ly/3hjNg6h). Reliable and affordable Internet access also fuels economic growth. A recent study estimates that the Internet economy has the potential to contribute up to USD180 billion to Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) (https://bit.ly/3Ayu0JW) by 2025.

An IXP is technical infrastructure where multiple networks, including Internet service providers, mobile operators, enterprise networks, research and education networks, e-Government services, and content delivery networks (CDNs) come together to connect and exchange Internet traffic.

IXPs enable the local exchange of Internet traffic instead of using expensive international transit routes. This not only makes Internet access much more affordable but also improves the quality of access by providing more direct network connections. Access speeds for content can be up to 10 times faster with an IXP because traffic is routed locally versus international transit routes.

According to the Internet Society report, the number of African IXPs has increased by 58 percent over the past eight years, from 19 in 2012 to 46 in 2020. In addition:

  • More than half of the countries in Africa have an IXP; six countries have more than one.
  • The most developed Internet ecosystem is in South Africa followed by Kenya and Nigeria . These countries have the most interconnected networks and have succeeded in exchanging 70-80% of their traffic locally.
  • IXPs provide significant savings by localizing Internet traffic. The report shows that a network can save up to US240,0000 per year by connecting to a local IXP.
  • The presence of content delivery networks has increased significantly and the amount of locally available content and demand for content hosting has increased.

The new report expands on a 2020 analysis (https://bit.ly/3xgdWdE) of IXP growth in Kenya and Nigeria and provides an overview of the evolution of Internet interconnection on the continent by examining a country in each of the six subregions: Angola (Southern Africa), Burkina Faso (Western Africa), Democratic Republic of Congo (Central Africa), Egypt (Northern Africa), Mauritius (Indian Ocean), and Rwanda (Eastern Africa).

“Thanks to the continued work with partners over the years, we have many more sustainable IXPs that exchange a considerable amount of Internet traffic in Africa. But there’s still work to do to ensure that more Internet traffic is exchanged on the continent,” said Dawit Bekele, Africa Regional Vice President for the Internet Society, a global nonprofit organization promoting the development and use of the Internet.

“A key success factor for IXPs is that governments understand the value that Internet infrastructure provides, which encourages the adoption of policies and regulations that enable Internet ecosystems to thrive,” added Bekele.

Since 2008, the Internet Society has been working with the African Internet community, including community groups, technical experts and policymakers, to improve local Internet infrastructure by helping to establish IXPs and strengthen the trust and cooperation between those that build the Internet. The overall goal is for 80 percent of Internet traffic in Africa be exchanged locally, and only 20 percent routed from outside the continent.

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Anakle Films Releases $1m Nigeria Movie,The Black Book on Netflix 

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Anakle Films has released Nigeria’s biggest-budget film to date, The Black Book, debuting on Netflix. The film, with a budget exceeding $1 million, features an ensemble cast of Africa’s most well-known actors, including Richard Mofe-Damijo, Alex Usifo, Sam Dede, Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett, Denola Grey, Shaffy Bello and Ireti Doyle.

 The Black Book delves into a fictional narrative that explores the West African country’s conflicted history, including military dictatorship, drug trafficking, and politics, through a retired hitman’s journey to seek justice.

Directed by Editi Effiong, The Black Book details the fictional story of Paul Edima, a former military and drug cartel hitman in Nigeria who cemented his legend with an unparalleled record of assassinations, coups, abductions and drug operations.

Faced with the hard choice of going back to kill a female journalist’s child whom he had spared or losing his own life, the protagonist wagers with his boss, giving up a legendary ledger called ‘The Black Book’, which details incriminating evidence against Nigeria’s corrupt elite in exchange for his life and the child.

After walking away to live a quiet life for 30 years, Edima is forced back to seek justice when his only son is killed by a gang of corrupt policemen, SARS, in an attempt to cover up the crimes of a politician’s son.

The Black Book Director Editi Effiong says, “Nigeria has a complicated but fascinating past. What we aimed to do with The Black Book was to provide historical and cultural context through a fictional, entertaining lens. Great storytelling is universal; this African story will resonate worldwide. Developing The Black Book and reimagining the Nigerian cinematic experience has been incredible; we’ve had world-class actors and the chance to incorporate amazing sets and large-scale location shoots to bring this Nigerian narrative to life.”

In a significant move, Anakle Films has acquired RMD Productions Limited, founded by Nollywood icon Richard Mofe-Damijo, who now joins the board of directors at Anakle Films. This partnership reinforces Anakle Films’ commitment to fostering talent and innovation in Africa’s film industry. This acquisition has resulted in a 14-project slate for Anakle Films, including films and television series cutting across romcom, action thriller, drama and other genres. The first of these will go into production in the first quarter of 2024.  

Richard Mofe-Damijo, who joins Anakle Films as Chairman, says: “The journey to ‘The Black Book’ was a transformative one for me, both professionally and personally. Meeting with Editi Effiong and embracing the physical and emotional demands of my role was an invigorating challenge that took me to new heights. As I step into my new position at Anakle Films, I’m excited to contribute to the growth and innovation of African storytelling. We have a rich history and vibrant culture that deserve to be shared with audiences far and wide. ‘The Black Book’ is an example of what we can achieve, and I believe it’s only the beginning of what’s to come.”

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IXPN Details  Gains Of Collaboration, Peering and Local Hosting of Content

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The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), a non-for-profit and membership-based organisation, which provides a platform where networks interconnect directly within Nigeria has highlighted the benefits that come with collaboration among operators, peering in carrier and cloud-neutral data centres and the hosting of content locally in Nigeria, where it is believed does more downloads of content than uploads.

The Chief Executive Officer of IXPN, Mr. Muhammed Rudman highlighted these benefits to stakeholders at an exclusive peering workshop, which was organized by IXPN and Africa Data Centres (ADC) in collaboration with Workonline Communications.

According to Muhammed, there is a lack of collaboration between the various operators in the ecosystem, which has led to duplication of infrastructure and ultimately, high cost of services for the end-users.

“There is a lot of fragmentation in the industry. Despite the Nigerian Communications Commission’s framework for infrastructure sharing, industry players do not collaborate that is why we have duplication of infrastructure which are supposed to be shared,” he told Journalists on the sideline of the forum.

He noted that if industry players collaborate, it will bring down operational costs and capital expenditure.

Speaking on what peering in a carrier and cloud-neutral data centres will bring to the industry and the Nigerian economy in general, Mr. Muhammed who is the immediate past President of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), said peering between Internet Exchange Point and a carrier/cloud-neutral data centres will enhance connections for citizens and organisations alike, and help the economy to thrive.

“Peering through internet exchanges addresses the challenges of traffic by ensuring the shortest possible route is used to reach a given destination. It keeps traffic as local as possible, which improves performance and enables faster connections between networks, facilitating high-speed data transfer, lower latency, increased bandwidth and improved fault tolerance,” he said.

According to him, local hosting of content is a driver for economic growth, stressing that money paid to foreign hosting companies constitutes capital flight, puts more strain on Nigeria’s foreign earnings and slows the growth of local data centers and delays the development of new ones.

He also explained that hosting locally provides additional revenue opportunities to local ISPs and data centers which in turn creates more job and technical competencies.  “Local content hosted abroad has higher latency than if hosted locally – over 1000%. But hosting it locally in any of the data centres has a direct and indirect impact on the economy – Job Creation, Tax, a platform for other IT professionals,” he argued.

The implications for businesses who hosted their content abroad are numerous; it affects business continuity, it comes with lower support level and poor update cycles because of conflicting working hours/ this is even as a study shows that a second-long delay causes a 7% drop in conversions, an 11% drop in page views and a 16% drop in customer satisfaction.

Meanwhile, as a way of addressing some of the challenges in the ecosystem, IXPN had organized a free Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) training for network engineers across Nigeria as part of her planned capacity-building programme for its increasing members and commitment towards improving the internet ecosystem in the country.

The training was held at the organisation’s corporate headquarter in Lagos, where Muhammed Rudamn explained that Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a gateway protocol that enables the internet to exchange routing information between autonomous systems (AS).

 “We want to empower members of the Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) with the rudiments and workings of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which is important to us as a one-stop peering point for service and content providers,” he emphasized.

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NCC Disowns Fake LinkedIn Account of Prof. Danbatta  

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been made aware of a fake LinkedIn account that is being attributed to our Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta.

We wish to categorically state that the said LinkedIn account is fake and has no affiliation with the NCC or Prof Danbatta.

We, therefore, urge the public to be wary of any communication or connection request from this fake LinkedIn account, as it is being operated by fraudulent individuals, who may be seeking to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

We wish to use this opportunity to remind the public that it is important to verify the authenticity of any online account, especially when such accounts claim to belong to public figures or organizations. We advise the public to only connect with verified and official accounts of the NCC and its officials.

We take this opportunity to warn those behind this fake LinkedIn account that they are engaging in criminal activities, and we will not hesitate to take legal action against them if they are caught. We remain committed to protecting the public from online fraud and ensuring a safe and secure online environment.

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