The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has announced a strategic collaboration with African Internet Exchange Point, NAPAfrica.

The partnership will mean networks currently connected and peering at NAPAfrica or LINX can access either of the exchanges via trusted and mutually available carriers.

Located within Teraco datacentre facilities in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, NAPAfrica’s founding goal is to help make internet access more universal and accessible across Africa.

Michele McCann, Head of Interconnection and Peering at Teraco.

Michele McCann, Head of Interconnection and Peering at Teraco, said: “We are excited to be collaborating with LINX to provide clients with a more direct and improved internet experience to any LINX location. The immediate benefit to carriers, cloud providers and content delivery networks, connected or peering at either NAPAfrica or LINX in London, is a more streamlined end-user experience.

“Our relationship with LINX is the first of what we anticipate will be many similar collaborative partnerships with internet exchanges seeking to provide a world-class internet experience for all users across the African continent.”

LINX said it has provided interconnection services for networks for over 25 years, with more than 850 networks connected to their London platforms alone. The partnership with NAPAfrica will make reaching London and peering at LINX more of a reality for African networks.

Nurani Nimpuno, Head of Global Engagement for LINX, added: “We have always worked closely with our friends at NAPAfrica, sharing technical knowledge and insights. Announcing a more strategic partnership will open doors and optimal routes to Europe for the African networks who may not have been able to reach us before.”

NAPAfrica says peering has been the telecommunications community's primary data transfer method for years and by peering, networks benefit from low latency, a more direct and controlled route for their data.

“A single connection into an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) can mean multiple peering opportunities with global networks. Many networks peer at multiple IXPs to keep their traffic local for end users in the geographical area,” the company stated.

This year marks NAPAfrica’s tenth year of operation. The business claims to be the seventh largest globally by number of member connections.

In July 2021, CEO of Teraco Jan Hnizdo, said the number of IXPs in Africa had grown exponentially and increased from 19 in 2012 to 46 in 2020.

Hnizdo said: “A 140% increase in the number of African exchanges is good news for the continent and its interconnectedness. We are proud of the innovative role NAPAfrica has played in shaping Africa’s Internet access and usage.”