Democratic Republic of Congo Hosts 14th African Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF)

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, August 20, 2024/ — The DRC will be this year’s host to the longest-running Internet development conference in Africa. From 20-24 August 2024, AfPIF will bring together infrastructure, service, and content providers to identify ways to improve network interconnection, lower the cost of connectivity, and increase the number of Internet users in the region.

The event, which takes place at the Hilton Hotel in Kinshasa, will provide participants with global and regional insights to maximize opportunities to help grow resilient Internet infrastructure and affordable services in Africa. Organized by the Internet Society (ISOC) and the African IXP Association (AFIX) in collaboration with the Internet Service Providers Association of DRC, the conference will feature more than 500 participants representing companies across the continent and globally, including Meta, Amazon, Netflix, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, the Internet Initiative Japan Lab, among others.

AfPIF was created to address the fact that most of Africa’s local Internet traffic is exchanged outside the continent. This results in slower speeds and increased costs. In the 14 years since its launch, Internet traffic exchanged within Africa has gone from 160 Mbps to over 4.6 Tbps. Key to this growth is the use of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). IXPs interconnect private, public, and academic networks, allowing them to exchange traffic locally. This improves the quality of service, makes local hosting viable, lowers the cost-of-service delivery, and increases fault tolerance.

“The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a market of 100 million people that borders nine countries and the Atlantic Ocean, is on the verge of a digital transformation. New cross-border backbone, metro fiber, and data center infrastructure are poised to bring Congo online and enhance regional integration. This will improve livelihoods, facilitate commerce, and promote cultural exchange,” said Kyle Spencer – Board Chair and Executive Director of the African IXP Association (AfIX).

“We are honored to host this year’s conference. The importance of IXPs in contributing to the development of the Internet in Africa cannot be overstated. We now have three IXPs in DRC that help provide fast, affordable Internet access to over 30.017.072 people, said Nico TSHINTU BAKAJIKA, President of the ISPA DRC.

For more information, please contact:
The African IXP Association
Kyle Spencer
kyle@stormzero.com

ISPA DRC:
Nico TSHINTU BAKAJIKA
n.tshintu@ispa-drc.cd

Internet Society
Allesandra deSantillana
desantillana@isocfoundation.org

About the Internet Society:
Founded by Internet pioneers, the Internet Society (ISOC) is global charitable organization dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet. Working through a global community of chapters and members, the Internet Society collaborates with a broad range of groups to promote the technologies that keep the Internet safe and secure, and advocates for policies that enable universal access. The Internet Society is also the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

About The African IXP Association:
The African IXP Association (AFIX) is a group of Internet exchange point (IXP) operators, brought together by a shared need to coordinate and exchange knowledge. IXPs facilitate large-scale network interconnection and traffic exchange, thereby creating a source of fast, local, cost-effective bandwidth. Our purpose is to provide an enabling environment for IXP operators in the African region in order to help them improve connectivity within the continent and to increase the Internet’s value for all.