Business
Building the Caribbean Internet economy – One IXP at a time
Internet hubs
Last August, the African Union and the European Internet Exchange Association announced a partnership with the Internet Society (ISOC) to support exchange points and other projects in Africa.
The African Union estimates that African countries spend US$600 million every year in transit costs for content that goes from one African country to another. Whereas Miami and New York are major exchange points for Caribbean traffic, London, Amsterdam and Sweden are the main Internet hubs for African content.
Closer to home, the Canadian government has embarked on an initiative to increase the number of IXPs within Canada. In support of the move, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, noted with concern that there are about 350 IXPs around the world, and some 85 in the United States – all integral to the Internet infrastructure – but in Canada, there are only two. The organization stated that the integrity of the local Internet is about the overall health of the Canadian economy.
The linkage between strengthening Internet infrastructure and overall economic well-being is no different in the Caribbean. At the technical level, increasing the number of Internet exchange points is about improving security, speed and network resilience, while maximizing the amount of traffic that stays within country.
From a development standpoint, however, local IXPs are about creating new opportunities for Caribbean business and entrepreneurs and delivering new local services for the benefit of all local Internet users.
Still, IXPs are not a panacea. Other components like root servers, ubiquitous mobile broadband, lower access costs and supporting policies to encourage local Internet activity are still needed. So while we celebrate the progress, the work of building out the Caribbean Internet is far from done.
Bevil Wooding is the Founder and Executive Director of BrightPath Foundation, an education-focused not-for-profit delivering values-based technology training programs including digital publishing and eBook creation workshops.
Follow on Twitter: @bevilwooding and Facebook: facebook.com/bevilwooding
Republished with permission from the Business Guardian (Trinidad & Tobago)
