Africa’ s slow and expensive Internet is less about technology and more about policy, infrastructure control and the strategic development of Internet Exchanges, says Matone Ditlhake,

CEO, Corridor Africa Technologies. or millions of Africans, the

Internet feels slow, expensive and unreliable even when the signal shows full bars. The problem is not simply mobile coverage or smartphones. It is something far less visible and far more strategic: where Africa’ s Internet traffic is exchanged and who controls it.

At the heart of the global Internet are Internet Exchanges, physical interconnection points where networks swap traffic directly. When these exchanges are weak, fragmented or poorly interconnected, local traffic takes long and expensive detours through Europe or North America even when the sender and receiver are in the same African city. traffic, a milestone that demonstrates the scale local exchanges can achieve when properly supported. That growth proves demand exists. The question is whether the architecture around it is keeping pace.

In many African countries, an email sent across town still travels thousands of kilometres offshore before returning. This increases latency and forces networks to purchase costly international transit. According to the Internet Society’ s 2025 IXP Tracker, South Africa has 11 active IXPs with the vast majority of networks interconnected locally, showing what is possible when exchange ecosystems mature. Yet this level of interconnection is not consistent across the continent.

Africa has made progress, but the data shows both growth and structural gaps. In March 2025, NAPAfrica became the first African IXP to exceed 5 terabits per second of

Africa has made progress, but the data shows both growth and structural gaps.

The result is a hidden digital tax on African innovation. Start-ups pay more to serve local users than they should. Governments spend scarce public funds on international bandwidth instead of

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