The Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP) started operations last week, allowing four local Internet service providers (ISPs) to exchange the majority of their traffic locally for the first time.
Africa Online, ISPKenya, KenyaWeb and Swift Global are actively using the exchange, with three more ISPs said to have already committed funds to it.
The exchange is operated by the Telecommunication Service Providers of Kenya.
Brian Longwe, chief technology officer of ISPKenya, says the exchange point represents not only a milestone in the development of Kenyan Internet infrastructure, but has immediate cost implications for the ISPs involved.
"The majority of traffic was routed internationally, mostly via the US," he says. "This traffic was using up our precious international bandwidth." ISPKenya routed an average of 175MB of data per day through the exchange in its first few days of operation.
The African IT renaissance will not be driven by governments, or the development community. It will be driven by the private sector which turns around and says 'enough is enough, let`s stop talking and wining, let`s do something`.
Richard Bell, president, Kenyan ISP Association
Although all ISPs are by regulation forced to use the Jambonet national backbone for international connectivity, no traffic was routed locally, and traffic between the neighbouring ISPs travelled halfway around the globe before reaching its destination.
According to Longwe, the three remaining paid-up but inactive exchange members are struggling with the Kenyan telecommunications provider for the circuits needed to connect them, and nine more companies have expressed an interest in joining.
Kenya has more than 50 licensed ISPs, but Longwe says only about 25 of those are active.
"We expect that any serious ISP in Kenya will connect to KIXP," he says.
Richard Bell, founder of Swift Global and president of the Kenyan ISP Association, also believes cost-efficiency will drive others to join.
"The overall cost saving is nearly 80% for traffic which can be routed locally. There is also a considerable reduction in latency which has led to improved quality of service."
According to the exchange`s documentation, its Layer Two Route Reflector Model, based on that of the Hong Kong Internet Exchange, allows low cost of entry for participants, a simple design and will scale to 60 members before needing to be upgraded.
Mike Jensen, an independent consultant with long experience in telecommunications and Internet systems in Africa, says he knows of no other peering points outside Kenya and SA.
"Half the countries in Africa don`t `need` one because there is only a single pipe out of the country, to which everyone is connected anyway," he says. "And as the national networks are so poor and many are using VSATs [very small aperture satellite terminals] as points-of-presence in secondary towns, a single IX [Internet exchange] in the capital isn`t going to help much for the ISPs outside."
However, Bell says both Uganda and Tanzania have plans for similar exchange points. "The medium-term aim will then be to interconnect all the IXPs in East Africa. That is the end zone we are all running towards." He says the international donor community is keen to promote such exchanges, but that Internet providers will no longer be dependent on regulators or outsiders to solve their problems.
"The African IT renaissance will not be driven by governments, or the development community. It will be driven by the private sector which turns around and says 'enough is enough, let`s stop talking and wining, let`s do something`."
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