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channel for content distribution in most
African countries.
Hosted by the Internet Society in
partnership with the Tanzania Internet
Service Providers Association, the
event serves as a platform to expand
internet infrastructure and services
across Africa by bringing together key
players to address the opportunities
in interconnection, peering, and traffic
exchange on the continent.
Lack of content key inhibitor
in African internet adoption
Internet access and availability are
not enough to get people online,
says a new Internet Society study
released at the African Peering and
Interconnection Forum taking place
in Tanzania. The Promoting Content
in Africa report reveals that while
significant improvements have been
made in internet infrastructure, most
notably in mobile networks, internet
adoption rates are slowing in many
countries because users lack compelling
reasons to connect.
by the Internet Society, the majority
of international and locally developed
content is hosted outside the country,
typically overseas. This results in slow
internet speeds and higher access
costs. In Rwanda for example, of
all websites using the .RW domain
name, only a small fraction is hosted
in Rwanda. The majority of sites are
hosted in Europe and the US. Hosting
content locally is key to making the
internet faster and more affordable for
users.
According to the study, content and
services are the main factors in making
the internet desirable, especially when
the subject matter is relevant and
in a language that users can easily
understand. A lack of local content and
services is affecting the number of new
online users in Africa. In Sub-Saharan
Africa in particular, local language
content is key to bringing new users
online, as many are not comfortable
reading in English or French.
As mobile financial services are
becoming increasingly available in the
African continent, monetising mobile
content is still a major challenge.
“Faster and better internet access can
help entrepreneurs create new local
content including services and apps,
but developers face barriers when
it comes to payment mechanisms
in order to monetise content,” said
Bastiaan Quast, Internet Society Fellow
and co-author of the report.
Promoting Content in Africa outlines
the barriers to the development of local
content and offers recommendations
to improve local content availability
and distribution.
Removing barriers to content
availability and distribution will have
significant impacts on the internet
ecosystem in Africa. The region faces a
combination of barriers, including the
inability to pay and receive payments
for mobile apps, which serve as a major
In the Sub-Saharan countries studied
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Internet peering is a business
relationship whereby two internet
service providers agree to provide
access to each other’s customers at no
cost. Internet users throughout Africa
benefit from peering, which enables
faster and more affordable access.
“Removing barriers to content
availability and distribution will have
significant impacts on the internet
ecosystem in Africa. It will help to make
existing international content more
accessible,” explained Dawit Bekele,
Internet Society Regional Bureau
Director for Africa. “African Peering
and Interconnection Forum is the only
event in Africa focused on building the
internet by building relationships. It
plays a key role in bringing together
different parties to increase local traffic
exchange across the continent,” he
added.
African Peering and Interconnection
Forum aims to build cross-border
interconnection opportunities by
facilitating discussions on internet
infrastructure challenges including
capacity building, development of
Internet Exchange Points and local
content. Previous editions of African
Peering and Interconnection Forum
have been held in Kenya, Ghana,
South Africa, Morocco, Senegal
and Mozambique. Last year’s event
featured 232 participants from 57
countries and an online participation of
978 people in 77 different countries.
The Internet Society, is the
independent source for internet
information and thought leadership
from around the world. It is also the
organisational home for the Internet
Engineering Task Force.
INTELLIGENTCIO
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