23 July 2020 – Addis Ababa – The Internet Society, a global non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet and AFRINIC, the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for the African region, are proud to announce the launch of a new collaborative effort, Africa Internet Measurements. This collaborative effort, a key component of the Internet Society’s Measuring the Internet project, launches on July 24, 2020. It builds upon a strategic, long-term partnership agreement held between both organizations aimed at strengthening continent-wide collaboration to drive the development of the Internet in Africa through projects and research related to Internet measurements, Internet resilience, routing security, open Internet standards, and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs).
Following the fourth webinar in the series titled “African Internet Resilience“, focused on measurement, which shared important insights on the state of Africa’s Internet, the two organizations plan to collaborate to tackle the problem of Internet resilience and reliability in the continent. Although Africa has made major strides in improving Internet penetration in the last decade, narrowing the gap with the rest of the world, the continent must improve the resilience and the reliability of its Internet infrastructure to pave way for innovation and technological advancement for the future as expressed in African Union’s 2063 agenda.
This partnership formalizes a longstanding relationship between the Internet Society and AFRINIC. In the past, the two organizations have collaborated on projects aimed at enhancing the capacity of African experts on Internet infrastructure, promote and advocate for the expansion of Internet access across Africa, build community networks, promoting open Internet standards, Internet Exchange Points, and more.
“Our interests have always been aligned well with AFRINIC’s and we are excited to work with the team to create a bigger and stronger Internet across Africa. We look forward to collaborating on issues related to open standards, local connectivity issues, Internet resilience, and so much more,” said Dawit Bekele, Regional Vice President – Africa, the Internet Society.
“It is a pleasure to partner with the Internet Society again on this project that aims at promoting Internet access and connectivity in Africa. We anticipate more involvement and participation of the Internet fraternity in the development of a reliable, accessible, affordable and resilient Internet in Africa,” said Eddy Kayihura, Chief Executive Officer, AFRINIC.
All are invited to join the official launch of this collaboration that will take place during a virtual partnership agreement between the Internet Society and AFRINIC on 24 July at 11 AM UTC. The online discussions will be followed by a short question and answer session about the partnership and its first project.
About the Internet Society
Founded in 1992 by Internet pioneers, the Internet Society (ISOC) is a global non-profit organization working to ensure the Internet remains a force for good for everyone. Through its community of members, special interest groups, and 130+ chapters around the world, the organization defends and promotes Internet policies, standards, and protocols that keep the Internet open, globally-connected, and secure. For more information, please visit: www.internetsociety.org.
About AFRINIC
The African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC) is the Regional Internet Registry for Africa headquartered in Ebene, Mauritius. It is responsible for the distribution and management of Internet number resources (IP address space and Autonomous System Numbers) in Africa and the Indian Ocean region. AFRINIC ensures equitable and efficient distribution of Internet number resources to the African Internet community to support Internet technology usage and development across the continent. More on AFRINIC can be found at www.afrinic.net.
Media Contacts:
Allesandra deSantillana
Internet Society
[email protected]
Susan Otieno
The African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC)
[email protected]