The African Internet market is growing rapidly, driven in particular by the ongoing digital transformation. The growth is attracting investment from multinationals.  

Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) announced, Tuesday (August 23), a memorandum of understanding with Nigerian firm MainData Nigeria Limited (MDXi) to operate and develop Internet exchange services across Africa.

Under the terms of the memorandum, AMS-IX will establish an Internet exchange at MDXi Data Center, MainOne's neutral data center in Lagos, Nigeria. MDXi will be the strategic partner and reseller for AMS-IX in West Africa. 

For Onno Bos (photo, left), AMS-IX International Partnership Director,  “Lagos is the ideal location to serve as a content hub for West and Central Africa as it is strategically located in a fast-developing region with landing sites for international subsea cables connecting Africa to EMEA and beyond.”

The partnership is part of MDXi’s parent company (Equinix)’s long-term strategy to "lead a carrier-neutral digital infrastructure company by bringing a full range of transformative technologies to Africa.” In April 2022, Equinix completed the acquisition of MainOne for US$320 million, thus entering the growing African market. 

Its memorandum of understanding with AMS-IX comes in a particular context marked by renewed interest in the African internet market, due in particular to the growth in internet traffic in the wake of accelerated digital transformation and the emergence of new digital consumption patterns.  

Thanks to the strategic partnership, “content delivery networks, application providers, and hosting companies will now be able to exchange internet traffic locally through the rich interconnected ecosystem of networks, large enterprises, and cloud service providers, and network operators available at MDXi,”  we learn. 

Isaac K. Kassouwi