Internet data exchange point launched in Coast

The Telecommunications Service Providers Association of Kenya (TESPOK) has launched an Internet Exchange Point in Mombasa to improve efficiency and cut connection costs.

The second IXP in the country, will ensure that all the region’s traffic is exchanged locally, which will improve Internet performance for end users, save operators the expense of passing regional traffic via Nairobi, and reduce the costs associated with traffic exchange between Internet Service Providers (ISPs), TESPOK chief Fiona Asonga said.

In early 2000, undertook the initiative to implement and operate a neutral, non-profit IXP for its then 6 members.

The IXP has experienced phenomenal growth with an average traffic growth rate of 150 per cent annually, according to Ms Asonga.

The new IXP will be hosted by SEACOM for the next three years and is targeting 12 ISP providers in Mombasa and other global firms who have also expressed interest in it.

“Mombasa is the landing point for all undersea fibre cables to Kenya and other landlocked countries in East Africa, making it an attractive location for international carriers to interconnect with the region,” Asango said, adding that Google has already expressed interest in using the IXP.

By enabling more efficient and cost-effective Internet traffic flow, it is expected that the IXP will help stimulate the region’s ICT sector.

“The establishment of the IXP was facilitated in part by the Internet Society’s African Interconnection and IXP Programme, an initiative to promote more robust Internet connections within, and between countries in Africa,” Asonga said. 

Before TESPOK established Kenya Internet Exchange Point in Nairobi, all Internet traffic was exchanged internationally.

According to Seacom president Brian Healthy, the upstream traffic for the domestic destination is between 30-40 per cent.

During the first two weeks of KIXP’s operation, measurements indicated that latency was reduced from an average of 1200-2000 milliseconds (via satellite) to 60-80 milliseconds via KIXP. 

By GITHUA KIHARA