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NAPAfrica, the largest internet exchange point in Africa,experienced a surge in data traffic that reached a peak of 3.44 Terabytes per second (Tbps) on March 19.

This significant increase in traffic is largely attributed to the growing African internet community embracing peering, the increasing use of data-intensive applications, enterprises moving to the cloud, and the growing demand for video content and gaming delivery services.

The milestone of 3 Tbps traffic throughput, which was reached on the evening of 15 February, reflects the rapid growth of internet traffic and the increasing demand for content and cloud services in Africa, according to Michele McCann, the Head of Platforms at Teraco.

NAPAfrica has become a leading interconnection hub, increasing and shaping access to the Internet across the continent.

The surge in internet traffic is also driven by the arrival of new substantial undersea cable systems, including 2Africa, Equiano, METISS, and ACE, which provide internet access to over one billion people in Africa.

These subsea cables have landed at various sites in South Africa, driving wider availability of internet-based digital services and becoming a major catalyst for the African digital economy.

Businesses looking to expand into Africa can accelerate their expansion plans by partnering with the right infrastructure providers, as more enterprises move their functions to the cloud.

Most businesses operating in larger African economies prefer a hybrid cloud approach to their IT infrastructure, allowing them to select the most suitable workload solution, avoid large capital expenditure, and better control their data.

The adoption of Everything as a Service (XaaS) also allows businesses to deploy IT infrastructure without waiting for physical hardware to be deployed.

NAPAfrica has become a cornerstone for organizations, supporting their internet and communication needs, and cloud adoption strategies.

The continued investment in critical telecommunications infrastructure in Africa has contributed to the growth of NAPAfrica, as has the continent’s demand for content and cloud services from providers like Microsoft Azure and AWS.

Enterprises are leveraging the benefits of peering by connecting with cloud deployments, networks, security providers, and content providers within the NAPAfrica ecosystem as part of their move to a digital economy.

The increased demand on networks to service remote users has driven the adoption of key cloud and security applications such as Akamai, Amazon, Cloudflare, Microsoft, and Zscaler.

Established in 2012, NAPAfrica has over 550 members actively peering and has grown to become Africa’s biggest internet exchange and the seventh largest globally by the number of members. It plays a pivotal role in transforming Africa’s internet access and interconnection.