Angola-based Internet Exchange Point (IXP) Angonix has announced that it has become the third largest internet IXP in Africa, after two years in operation.

With a peak of traffic of 10.8Gbps (as recorded in July 2017), the company says it has grown exponentially since March 2015 when it started its operations, coming third after South Africa and Nigeria.

"The growth of Angonix has exceeded even the most optimistic of forecasts. Our growth is an indication of how ripe the continent is for digital growth," says Darwin Costa, project manager at Angonix.

The Luanda-based IXP says it interconnects global networks, network operators and content providers to keep local traffic local and offers international content providers and networks a basis for peering on the African continent.

"We provide a physical access point through which major networks with their own Autonomous System Numbers can connect and exchange traffic," says Costa.

Managed by telecommunications company, Angola Cables, Angonix says it allows global and local networks such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to interconnect directly to exchange internet traffic.

The platform has managed to connect 17 ISP members and says it has become a competitive force in Angola and the Sub-Saharan region.

Costa says, "As a neutral IXP, Angonix allows content to be localised at reduced per-bit delivery costs and offers improved routing efficiency."

He adds that Angola Cables will become the only carrier able to directly connect networks from the Americas and Europe. "Remote peering services will soon be launched whereby peering ports on Angonix will be available in other markets."

According to Angonix, from late 2016, the South Atlantic Cable System (SACS), also known as the Angola-Brazil-Cable, linked Luanda, the capital of Angola, with Fortaleza, Brazil.

It is designed to provide low latency routing between Africa and Asia in the East and the Americas in the West.

Angonix notes that with it being positioned in Luanda, it is the perfect location to peer internet traffic away.

António Nunes, CEO of Angola Cables says data traffic is on the rise on the African continent. "The Internet's infrastructure in Africa will grow exponentially in the next few years, and to make the best of it, data has to travel shorter distances to get to users. Angonix will contribute to the Internet landscape by providing an IXP for all kinds of networks to exchange traffic for free and be closer to the West African users."

Angola Cables says it also recently extended its international network to include Frankfurt, London and Marseille.