TIX upgrades core to 100G as Tanzanian traffic jumps 80%

Traffic across the Tanzania Internet eXchange has risen by more than 80% in a year. The exchange’s public statistics show it averaged about 205 Gbps in the last week of September 2026, up from roughly 110 Gbps a year earlier.

The Tanzania Internet Service Providers Association (TISPA), which runs the exchange, said on 23 September 2026 that it had upgraded TIX’s core switch capacity to 100G, to handle growing traffic and the connectivity needs of the networks connected to it. It did not give the previous capacity.

“With greater core capacity, networks can exchange local traffic more efficiently through the IXP, helping improve network performance and supporting a more resilient Internet ecosystem,” TISPA said.

What the exchange carries

An internet exchange point (IXP) is where networks meet to hand traffic to each other directly, so that data travelling between Tanzanian networks does not have to leave the country and come back. TIX, in Dar es Salaam, connects 66 networks, according to TISPA’s member list and the exchange’s own portal.

Most of the growth has come since mid-year. Across the 12 months to 25 September 2026, TIX averaged about 130 Gbps, and each month from July to September has averaged more than the one before, reaching about 206 Gbps so far in September.

TISPA’s member list also covers smaller exchanges in Mwanza, Dodoma and Zanzibar, so that local traffic in those cities need not travel to Dar es Salaam to be exchanged.

Exchanges across Africa are sizing up

The upgrade follows similar moves elsewhere. Accra-IX in Ghana said on 1 September 2026 that it was upgrading its core to support 400G, and IXPN in Lagos moved to 400G peering at 3 sites in July 2026 after doubling its peak traffic to more than 2 Tbps.

Tanzania’s growth is from a smaller base, but the direction is the same: more traffic passing through local exchanges, and the exchanges upgrading to carry it.