<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">I appreciate very much this idea<br><br>--- On <b>Thu, 23/8/12, Wilson Abigaba <i><abigabaw@gmail.com></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>From: Wilson Abigaba <abigabaw@gmail.com><br>Subject: [AfrICANN-discuss] African Union (AU) Selects the Internet Society to Support Establishment of Internet Exchange Points across Africa<br>To: "africann" <africann@afrinic.net><br>Date: Thursday, 23 August, 2012, 13:55<br><br><div class="plainMail">- African Union (AU) Selects the Internet Society to Support<br>Establishment of Internet Exchange Points across Africa<br>- Project includes 60 capacity building workshops in 30 countries<br><br>[Johannesburg, South Africa --23 August 2012] – The Internet Society<br>today announced that it has been selected by the African
Union (AU) to<br>conduct community mobilization and technical aspects workshops to<br>support the establishment of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in AU<br>Member States as part of the African Internet Exchange System (AXIS)<br>project. The AXIS project aims at keeping Africa’s Internet traffic<br>local to the continent by providing capacity building and technical<br>assistance to facilitate the establishment of National Internet<br>Exchange Points and Regional Internet Exchange Points in Africa. The<br>project is funded by the Euro-Africa Infrastructure Fund and the<br>Government of Luxembourg.<br><br>The Internet Society is committed to organizing 60 community<br>mobilization and technical aspects workshops in 30 African countries.<br>To this effect, the Internet Society will also contribute its own<br>resources for the implementation of this component of the AXIS<br>project.<br><br>Currently, much of Africa’s Internet traffic is routed
through<br>Internet exchange points external to the African continent. As<br>countries establish their own IXPs, Internet traffic will be routed<br>locally, creating a downward pressure on costs and stimulating growth<br>in and distribution of local Internet content. Through the AXIS<br>project, the interests of the AU and the Internet Society, working<br>with other African Internet organizations such as AfriNIC, AfNOG, and<br>AftLD, will be realized in this collaborative effort to assist in the<br>development of a more locally operated and, hence, more robust and<br>economically accessible pan-African Internet.<br><br>Moctar Yedaly, Head of Information Society Division, African Union<br>Commission, commented,“Africa is paying overseas carriers to exchange<br>‘local’ (continental) traffic. This is both a costly as well as an<br>inefficient way of handling inter-country exchange of Internet<br>traffic. Independent analysis has shown that Africa
pays over US$600<br>Million to developed countries every year for inter-African traffic<br>exchange that is carried outside the continent. We are therefore<br>pleased that the African Internet Exchange System project will address<br>this challenge by facilitating optimization of Internet traffic to<br>support intra-continental traffic flows in Africa.”<br><br>Dawit Bekele, Internet Society Regional Bureau Director for Africa,<br>stated, “We are very excited to be selected by the African Union to<br>support the growth of IXPs throughout Africa. We believe the AXIS<br>project is extremely important to the continued health of the Internet<br>ecosystem in Africa, and building the technical infrastructure and<br>training the people to sustain it are fundamental to extending the<br>Internet in Africa. Partnering with the African Union on the AXIS<br>project is central to the Internet Society’s mission to ensure the<br>open development, evolution,
and use of the Internet for the benefit<br>of people everywhere.”<br><br>The Internet Society has provided technical training in Africa since<br>the early 1990s, and supports the development of human and technical<br>capacity to build reliable and sustainable Internet infrastructure in<br>Africa and around the world. The organization’s African Bureau was<br>started in 2006. With 24 Chapters, the Internet Society African Bureau<br>works to promote capacity building and the responsible development of<br>the Internet throughout Africa. Its principle focus is improving<br>interconnection and traffic exchange within the continent through the<br>implementation of IXPs, network training, and capacity building.<br><br>Link: <a href="http://www.internetsociety.org/news/african-unionau-selects-internet-society-support-establishment-internet-exchange-points-across"
target="_blank">http://www.internetsociety.org/news/african-unionau-selects-internet-society-support-establishment-internet-exchange-points-across</a><br>_______________________________________________<br>AfrICANN mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:AfrICANN@afrinic.net" href="/mc/compose?to=AfrICANN@afrinic.net">AfrICANN@afrinic.net</a><br><a href="https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann" target="_blank">https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann</a><br></div></blockquote></td></tr></table>