Global non-profit organisation the Internet Society has partnered with Facebook to develop Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) throughout Africa, while IXP industry experts Asteroid and NAPAfrica have also signed a MoU.

The Internet Society and Facebook will promote IXP infrastructure development, training and community engagement required in order to not only support the expansion of existing IXPs, but increase the number of IXPs.

"The Internet community adopted the goal of having at least 80% of the internet traffic consumed in Africa being locally accessible, and only 20% sourced outside the continent by the year 2020,"said Dawit Bekele, Africa Regional Bureau Director for the Internet Society. "We are getting closer to that target thanks to the many activities that promote interconnection and hosting in Africa and to partnerships such as the one we are announcing today with Facebook."

Kojo Boakye, Head, Connectivity and Access, Africa at Facebook, said, ""We admire the Internet Society's important work to improve connectivity in Africa by supporting IXPsOur partnership with the Internet Society will help develop Africa's IXP ecosystem by deploying resources like training and equipment to the areas where they are most urgently needed.

The MoU between Asteroid and NAPAfrica was established to promote peering and local interconnection, with an emphasis on IXPs as an essential part of the internet ecosystem.

"We are proud to be teaming up with NAPAfrica to combine our competence and experience in IXPs and peering," said Nurani Nimpuno, CCO at Asteroid. "We believe that Africa holds great potential for internet growth, but there are still real challenges to solve in terms of in-country interconnection. IXPs can play a key role in boosting that, and at Asteroid we want to work play a positive role in that development. NAPAfrica with their amazing reputation and experience is an obvious partner for us to work with."

Michele McCann, Head of Interconnection and Peering at NAPAfrica, said, "Asteroid has a solid team of reputable IXP experts. We are incredibly excited about their lean, efficient, and highly automated IXP model, and we think it's a good fit in Africa. We are proud to be teaming up with Asteroid in promoting local interconnection and peering on the continent."