Nigeria Hosts 15th African Peering & Interconnection Forum (AfPIF)

Lagos, Nigeria August 16, 2025 — Nigeria is set to host the 15th edition of the African Peering & Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) from August 19th to 21st in the city of Lagos.

Over 500 leaders and experts from the global Internet industry will gather in Lagos to examine the current state of Africa’s Internet ecosystem and explore ways to promote infrastructure development, network interconnection, and content hosting. These efforts aim to reduce costs, enhance performance, and strengthen Africa’s digital sovereignty in an increasingly interconnected world.

Participants will include Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), data centers, content delivery networks, cloud services, submarine cable operators, Internet service providers, as well as government representatives, researchers, development agencies, community networks, academia, hardware vendors, and the media.

Hosted at the Lagos Continental Hotel, AfPIF 2025 will focus on the West African region’s policy environment, carrier neutral data center market, and content delivery ecosystem. The programme will feature workshops, keynotes, panel discussions, bilateral meetings, lightning talks, and networking socials to create a dynamic space for networking, knowledge exchange, and business development.

Organised by the African IXP Association (AFIX) with the support of the Internet Society (ISOC) and hosted by the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Rack Centre, and AF-CIX, AfPIF provides the African Internet community with a unique platform to address shared challenges and emerging opportunities.

“For over 15 years, AfPIF has united the African Internet community to advance local network interconnection and traffic exchange across the continent. This has spurred investment in data centers, content hosting, and cross-border infrastructure — reducing costs, boosting performance, and broadening access while strengthening Africa’s economic independence and digital sovereignty” said African IXP Association Executive Director, Kyle Spencer. “We look forward to continuing this work in Lagos.“

“This year marks a significant milestone for Africa’s peering and interconnection community and the AfPIF event. It is the first time the AfPIF event is taking place in Africa’s most influential country, Nigeria, and under the new leadership of the African IXP Association. There is no better place to reimagine the future of peering and interconnection for the continent than in Lagos. It presents a platform to unlock cross-border infrastructure and traffic exchange across West Africa and a unique opportunity to discuss the east-to-west Africa terrestrial infrastructure gaps that can improve the region’s Internet resilience. We value and remain supportive of the community’s effort to address these and other priorities to advance Africa’s digital future.” said Michuki Mwangi, the Distinguished Technologist for Internet Growth at the Internet Society.

On behalf of the local hosts, Muhammed Rudman, the CEO of IXPN, emphasized their excitement to host AfPIF in Nigeria this year. “We look forward to welcoming key stakeholders from the peering and interconnectivity ecosystem to Lagos. Together, we can create a dynamic environment that fosters collaboration among African countries, strengthens our Internet ecosystem, and enhances Internet access for underserved and unserved communities.” He said

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NOTE TO EDITORS
For media and interview inquiries contact: secretariat@af-ix.org

For more information visit: https://afpif.org/

The African IXP Association: The AfricanIXP Association (Af-IX) is a regional association dedicated to advancing theproliferation of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) across the African continent.By promoting the establishment and growth of IXPs, Af-IX contributes toenhancing local Internet traffic exchange, reducing costs, improving networkperformance, and fostering digital innovation within Africa.

Internet Society: Founded in 1992 by Internet pioneers,the Internet Society is a global non-profit organization working to ensure theInternet is for everyone. Through its community of members, special interestgroups, and 130+ chapters around the world, the organization defends andpromotes Internet policies, standards, and protocols that keep the Internetopen, globally connected, and secure.

Internet Exchange Point Of Nigeria (IXPN):  A netural community based Internet exchange Point dedicated to the betterment of Nigeria’s Internet ecosystem. IXPN’s goal is to improve the cost and performance of the Internet by Localising communication traffic.

The West Africa Interconnection Exchange (AF-CIX): A neutral network interconnection hub located in Lagos, Nigeria. AF-CIX interconnects global networks and content providers on the west coast of Africa. AF-CIX is built on a fully redundant switching platform located in a world class secure data center in Lagos, Nigeria

Rack Centre: The only carrier and cloud neutral Tier-III Constructed Facility Certified data centre in Africa. It focuses solely on providing best-in-class colocation services and unrestricted interconnect between carriers and customers. Rack Centre provides superior, secure and lower cost environment for Nigeria’s information systems.