tech.africa: African tech news and analysis since 2004
Latest
All news →
Ethiopia joins PAPSS, the pan-African payment network
Kholo Capital lends R275m to SA ICT distributor DCC
PwC: Kenya and Nigeria lead the world in two media markets
Safaricom adds a Shari’ah money market fund to M-PESA
Hotbird 13°E frequencies and free channels (2026)
Q&A: TelCables Nigeria on local cloud and the CBN deadline
The sustainability equation for Africa’s data centres
Furaha school-fee loans reach 100,000 Ugandan children
Google picks 15 South African startups for AI accelerator
Vertiv and Cybastion team up on African data centres
Paymenow launches SmartReset to pull workers out of debt
MTN wins all the 3 GHz 5G spectrum Ghana put on offer
Pillar guides
Canonical references, refreshed quarterlyGuide
Starlink in Africa: countries, prices and speeds (2026)
GuideThe cheapest way to send money to Nigeria from the UK
GuideDStv: packages, prices, and channels in Africa (2026)
GuideDStv Streaming: Prices, Packages, Streama Decoder
GuideOpenView: free satellite TV channels, frequency settings, and decoder prices in South Africa
GuideMulti TV frequency, channels list, and setup guide (2026)
GuideNilesat 201: frequency settings, channels, and free TV guide (2026)
GuideRain packages, prices, and coverage in South Africa (2026)
From around Africa
Browse by country →
Most read
Still being read
- Q&A: building a digital Islamic bank in Somaliland3 Aug 2026
- PAPSS volumes up 1,000%, average payment down 80%15 Sep 2026
- PwC: AI is reshaping how South Africa's mines decide23 Jul 2026
- Nigeria's only subsea cable outside Lagos, two years on11 Aug 2026
- 906 million Africans have coverage and do not use it23 Sep 2026
- Digital Realty opens NBO2 and retires the iColo brand7 Sep 2026
- rAge becomes a gaming and esports festival for 20263 Aug 2026
- Afreximbank and Gebeya offer $50k to African creators3 Aug 2026
- Spiro will buy Yadea bikes, and it already builds its own15 Sep 2026
Evergreen favourites
- DStv free channels: how to watch without a subscription (2026)
- Showmax packages and prices in 2026: your complete guide to streaming in Africa
- DStv Now: Free Live TV Channels & Catch Up Content
- How to watch SABC channels for free
- Cool Ideas fibre packages, prices, and review (2026)
- WhatsApp to stop working on old generation phones by the end of December
- How Aero Contractors offers very low airfares. The catches!
- Starlink competitors and alternatives in 2026
- iPhone 12 in 2026: specs, prices, and where to buy in South Africa
- Huawei Y7 series: specs, models, and prices in 2026
Upcoming events
See all events- 23-24 October 2026:DevFest Mbarara marks five years for GDG Cloud Mbarara – Mbarara (venue to be announced)
- 23-24 October 2026:PyHo 2026 brings the Builders Conference to Ho – Ho (venue to be announced)
- 24 October 2026:DevFest Harare 2026 set for the Harare Institute of Technology – Harare Institute of Technology, 15015 Ganges Road
- 24 October 2026:DevFest Maiduguri 2026 heads to the University of Maiduguri – University of Maiduguri, Bama-Maiduguri Road
Africa Internet Compass · live data
The African internet, in numbers
Latest data ingest 19 Oct 2026 · 15:34 UTC
2,978
African networks tracked
54
countries mapped
336k
IP prefixes mapped
71
Internet exchanges
202
data centres
174
MANRS-compliant networks
51
RIPE Atlas anchors
350
measurement probes
Built from AFRINIC · ARIN · RIPE NCC · APNIC stats · MANRS · RouteViews · Cloudflare Radar · MaxMind GeoLite2 · OONI · APNIC Labs · RIPE Atlas mesh
Where the African internet stands today
composite weighted across 10 measured signalsConnectivity composite
Bandwidth · latency · IPv6 capability · DNSSEC validation · clean traffic · network density · prefix count · intra-Africa mesh latency. 50 countries scored.
- 1South Africa16.8 Mbps · 866 networks · 12ms intra-Africa+2.11
- 2Tunisia10.4 Mbps · 30 networks · 29% IPv6 capable+0.90
- 3Zimbabwe8.4 Mbps · 33 networks · 26% IPv6 capable+0.67
- 4Kenya5.8 Mbps · 291 networks · 18% IPv6 capable+0.66
- 5Senegal6.8 Mbps · 23 networks · 34% IPv6 capable+0.65
Africa at a glance
Median across 54 countries, last 7 days.
4.6%
IPv6 capability
Range 1.3% – 13.9%
5.2 Mbps
Bandwidth (p50)
LS leads at 17.3 Mbps
57%
Mobile share of traffic
vs 43% desktop
22%
HTTP/3 adoption
measured on Cloudflare edge
Intra-Africa connectivity, observed
RIPE Atlas anchoring mesh, 7-day windowFastest pairs
Where intra-African links live up to the geography.
- ZAMZ12 ms9 hops
- TGNG13 ms5 hops
- BWMZ15 ms12 hops
Slowest pairs
Where paths likely traverse Europe and add round-trip penalty.
- TDTZ443 ms15 hops
- TDMU440 ms18 hops
- TDMZ415 ms10 hops
Routing efficiency by country
measured round trip vs straight-line distance How much further a country’s traffic to the rest of Africa travels than the direct distance would allow, from RIPE Atlas measurements. Lower is better. 33 countries had enough measurement coverage to score.
- 1Equatorial Guinea80 ms median round trip to other African countries+55 ms
- 2Zimbabwe95 ms median round trip to other African countries+66 ms
- 3Malawi84 ms median round trip to other African countries+72 ms
- 4Zambia91 ms median round trip to other African countries+73 ms
- 5South Africa135 ms median round trip to other African countries+87 ms
Where our measurement is thinnest
honesty over coverage-pride38
African countries have zero RIPE Atlas anchor
11
countries with no active measurement probe
7
countries tracked via fewer than 10 networks