Rwandan Minister of Youth and ICT Jean Philbert Nsengimana
An African Union (AU) led Eastern Africa Regional Internet Exchange Point (RIXP) and Regional Internet Carrier (RIC) Workshop was launched in Kigali, Rwanda with the aim to foster stakeholder discussions on supporting National Internet Exchange Points and Internet Service Providers. The event aimed to address slow and expensive exchange of intra-African traffic via overseas hubs.
“We are here to make a difference. We know where we want to go, we know how to get there, we only lack the courage to do what we ought to do to reach where we want. We need to act and address the gaps that Africa suffers from in terms of access and affordability of Internet†said the Hon. Minister for Youth and ICT of Rwanda, Hon. Jean Philibert Nsengimana in his welcoming remarks.
The five day workshop was a strategic follow up to the support provided by the African Internet Exchange System (AXIS) project of the AU to establish National Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). The workshop was expected to adopt policy recommendations to promote local hosting and peering and agree on guiding minimum criteria for selecting national internet exchange points to be supported to grow into regional internet exchange points.
Four years ago, EACO embarked on the process of establishing an East African Internet Exchange Point. Recently with the support of ITU, EACO carried out a study which recommended a phased approach to the process of strengthening the national internet exchange points and establishment of the East African Internet Exchange Point.
The workshop attracted seventy delegates from the Ministries responsible for ICT, Regulators, Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Telecommunication Operators of the following Member States of the Eastern Africa Region of the African Union: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.