NAPAfrica, the largest Internet exchange point (IXP) in Africa, has reported a significant increase in internet traffic, surpassing the 3Tbps threshold on 15 February and peaking at 3.44Tbps on 19 March. The increasing use of data-intensive applications has driven this growth, businesses moving to the cloud, and the growing demand for video, content, and gaming delivery services.
The traffic surge is also attributed to new undersea cable systems, such as 2Africa, Equiano, METISS, and ACE, which have connected Africa to Europe and provided internet access to over a billion people. These cables have landed at various sites in South Africa, and the increase in internet capacity is expected to drive the African digital economy.
Companies seeking to expand into Africa can accelerate their plans by partnering with the right infrastructure providers as global cloud providers continue to invest in the region. Many businesses operating in large African economies prefer a hybrid cloud approach to their IT infrastructure, allowing them to control their data and adopt Everything as a Service (XaaS) solutions.
NAPAfrica has been central to organisations’ internet and communication needs and cloud adoption strategies. Increased demand on networks to service remote users has driven the adoption of key cloud and security applications from companies such as Akamai, Amazon, Cloudflare, Microsoft, and Zscaler.
Established in 2012, NAPAfrica now has over 550 members actively peering and ranks as the seventh largest IXP globally by the number of members. The IXP is crucial in transforming Africa’s internet access and interconnection.
