Dakar, Senegal – 29th August, 2017: The African Union Commission (AUC), through its Department of Infrastructure and Energy, in collaboration with the Senegalese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications launched the Senegal Internet Exchange Point on 29 August 2017.

Speaking at the launch of SENIX, Hon. Minister of Posts and Telecommunications said “being a central physical infrastructure that directly interconnects networks in Senegal to facilitate the exchange of local Internet traffic, the Senegal Internet exchange will improve the quality of service with better Internet throughput while avoiding international transit costs on local traffic. This will lead to a decline in international bandwidth costs and a reduction in Internet access tariffs and an increase in Internet penetration and use,”

On his part, Mr. Moctar Yedaly, Head of Information Society at the AUC stated, “we are very proud to see that all operators in Senegal are now exchanging Internet traffic through this center, an infrastructure that has been in the making for two years with the support of the African Union Commission through its African Internet Exchange System (AXIS) project.”

Senegal joins the list of thirty two AU member states that already house this infrastructure including Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Congo Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, DR Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland. Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“The African Union Commission has saved the continent millions of dollars per year by setting up of internet exchange points (IXPs) in Africa. The Commission has also supported the creation of the African Internet Governance Forum and drafted the AU Convention on Cybersecurity, e-Transaction and Personal Data Protection,” Mr. Yedaly opined.

The AXIS aims to support and facilitate the establishment of an African internet infrastructure; national and regional internet exchange points (IXPs) as well as continental internet carriers, by providing capacity building to internet community stakeholders, technical assistance to regional internet exchange points and policy & regulatory reform at regional level.
The launch was officiated by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the African Union Commission and attended by Senior Government Officials, and Leaders of the Industry.