E-Business
Local Internet Hosting Key to Furthering Africa Internet Development- Report
Local Internet hosting has been identified as essential in the development of the Internet ecosystem in emerging countries, according to a report on Tuesday by the Internet Society.
The report by African Press Organization on behalf of the Internet Society, showed that the development of locally relevant Internet content that is attractive to users has been shown to have a positive impact on Internet adoption.
As the infrastructure necessary for Internet access is becoming more available in developing countries and emerging regions, efforts to increase Internet adoption rates are now focused on the development of such content.
However, the impact of such efforts on Internet adoption rates will be limited if the infrastructure and enabling environment for local hosting and content delivery is overlooked.
In many developing countries and emerging regions, the vast majority of content accessed by local users is hosted abroad. As the content must traverse often expensive and sometimes under-provisioned international links, this can have a significant impact on the economics of access as well as the user experience.
“The lack of locally hosted content can have significant impacts on the entire Internet ecosystem in a country,” wrote Michael Kende, ISOC’s Chief Economist and co-author of the report. “First, accessing any type of content abroad can be very costly for ISPs, and therefore, international links are often under-provisioned, resulting in slow access times that limit usage. Second, these increased costs for accessing international content are passed on to users, with high prices limiting usage. Finally, these limits on demand will, in turn, restrict the creation of further Internet content, keeping the entire ecosystem underdeveloped.”
The report, “Promoting Local Content Hosting to Develop the Internet Ecosystem,” co-authored by Mr. Kende and Karen Rose, senior director, Internet Society’s Office of Strategy and Research, uses Rwanda as a case study in exploring those dynamics, working in close partnership with the Ministry of Youth and ICT (MyICT) in Rwanda and the Rwanda Information and Communication Technology Association (RICTA).
While focused on Rwanda, the situation there is common in many developing countries.
“Strengthening the enabling environment for the hosting of local content can have positive cascading impacts on stakeholders and the local Internet economy, including its end users,” said Ms. Rose. “Global hosting options have clearly been valuable for content developers, however, the local hosting environment is yet to mature in many developing countries, limiting the practical options available for content developers to host locally.
“The cost and latency involved in accessing content abroad from emerging economies can depress usage, with the result that the full potential and benefits of the Internet are not realized. Additionally, depressed usage impacts content developers directly, as less user engagement with content translates to a lower potential for content and service providers to earn revenue from advertising and sales.”
Cost
Almost all of the commercial websites in Rwanda are hosted abroad. A small savings for the content providers in hosting it abroad results in significantly higher costs for the ISPs to access the content.
For one of the larger Rwandan websites that was examined, the content developer saved USD$111 per year by hosting overseas, while it cost the Rwandan ISPs approximately USD$13,500 in transit costs to deliver the content from abroad to local users. This impact is limited, however, because the websites hosted abroad suffer from high latency, which reduces usage.
Latency
The delay experienced by users in Rwanda to download a webpage can frequently be five seconds or more, and this can increase for webpages composed of multiple elements.
The cumulative effect can make the overall Internet experience slow and frustrating, with a corresponding negative impact on usage.
This can also limit the viability of interactive and data-intensive services such as gaming or video streaming, which depend on low latency.
The report provides several examples of the positive impact on usage when Google and Akamai made content available locally in Rwanda.
For instance, Akamai recently turned on a cluster in Rwanda that increased throughput dramatically, and within two months usage increased by 80%. The report then recommends several steps to bolster the local hosting environment in Rwanda, in order that local content providers have the option to experience the benefits of local hosting.
According to Jean Philbert Nsengimana, minister of Youth and ICT in Rwanda, “The Rwandan Internet environment has seen impressive growth in recent years due to the commitment and involvement of a range of stakeholders, including an enterprising population and business community, dedicated technical community, and strong policy leadership throughout the Government of Rwanda.” Minister Nsengimana added, “This project has demonstrated how the Internet ecosystem in Rwanda, and other countries in a similar position, can work together to bolster the environment for local content hosting.”
While local content hosting is a key element for creating a vibrant local Internet economy, the report notes that the focus for policymakers, companies, and content entrepreneurs, should be on creating a positive enabling environment that will incentivise local hosting and service development and thereby offer content providers a local choice, rather than imposing measures that artificially require local hosting.
The Internet Society (www.internetsociety.org) is the trusted independent source for Internet information and thought leadership around the world. It is also the organizational home for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
With its principled vision, substantial technological foundation and its global presence, the Internet Society promotes open dialogue on Internet policy, technology, and future development among users, companies, governments, and other organizations.
Abisoye Coker-Odusote, director general, National Identity management commission (NIMC) has said that the commission is set to register 95 percent of Nigerians into the National Identity Database before December 2025.
Abisoye Coker-Odusote,, DG, NIMC
She made this statement at a press briefing to highlight the commissions goal aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly on digital governance and inclusive development.
The mass enrollment drive will be powered by a combination of improved infrastructure, expanded registration centres, and robust public sensitization campaigns.
As of May 2025, NIMC reports over 120 million Nigerians have been enrolled, and about 100 million more would be captured by December.
The federal government, in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), is building a digital registrar that will identify farmers, their farmlands, type of soil and the crops they grow for targeted services.
The information and the National Identification Number (NIN) will be integrated into a multipurpose identity card that farmers can use to access financial services, inputs and other forms of government assistance.
The digitisation is expected to harmonise farmers’ data across all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Speaking at the national launch of the Policy Dialogue Initiative on the National Digital Farmers Registry (NDFR) recently in Abuja, Dr Marcus Ogunbiyi, permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), said the new system would address the issue of portfolio farmers, whom he described as “farmers who have no farm.”
“We are going to register farmers and their farms. Not only that, farmers and the type of crop they grow, farmers and the locality they are, the type of soil they have on their farms. There is no farm that will not have a farmer. But there are many farmers who do not have farms. This is an encompassing package.
“When we register these farmers, we are going to provide a physical and digital card for them. With the card, many things can be done by the farmers. It can be used as a means of identification, an asset to some gateway – just anything. It is going to have a handshake with the database of the country, such that with that particular card, the farmer can enter any place and get things done. He or she can redeem inputs and even get a loan, depending on the financial entity,” Ogunbiyi explained.
He said that to accomplish this, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has taken decisive steps to transform their approach to farmer data management, adding, “Chief among these is our strategic partnership with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to implement a far-reaching farmer registration and database project. At the heart of this initiative is the integration of the NIN, which ensures that every Nigerian farmer is uniquely identified and seamlessly integrated into a national agricultural system.”
Mrs Dede Ahoefa Ekoue, country director/representative of the IFAD in Nigeria, said the United Nations (UN) organisation was proud to be part of the initiative on the National Digital Farmer Registry in Nigeria.
“Our role is to convene all the partners, development partners from the public sector, private sector and the international community to put our resources together to support the effort of the government in establishing and enabling a digital farmer registry for the country,” she said.
Mrs Ekoue said that although there were previous efforts to have a national database of farmers, it had the issues of fragmentation and sustainability.
“The government is now providing us with a sense of direction and matching orders to all the actors to work together. This is what we are doing today with several partners, including the African Development Bank, FAO, the World Bank, the EU, the Islamic Development Bank and UK. Also, what is very key is farmers’ organisations because it is about them, it is for them, it must be with them,” she added.
The country director said the IFAD was happy to bring together the private sector and different ministries, departments and agencies, adding, “It will be a game changer for having a strong, updated and sustainable national digital farmer registry.”
Dr Lekan Tobe, the country director of Heifer International in Nigeria, in his remarks at the official launch of the Policy Dialogue Initiative on the National Digital Farmer Registry, emphasised the critical role of partnership and data in transforming Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
He said that this initiative, born from recommendations of previous policy dialogues organised in collaboration with the federal government, aimed to scale up innovative digital technology to enhance food systems across the country.
Dyna.Ai, a global leader in AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS), has launched its operations in Nigeria with an exclusive closed-door ‘Nigeria Dyna Day’ event in Lagos, which saw the introduction and orientation of its suite of AI-powered products and solutions to Nigeria’s emerging financial ecosystem.
The event, tagged ‘Nigeria Dyna Day’ and themed “AI Unleashed: Revolutionising Nigeria’s Financial Future,” brought together leading voices from the country’s AI, financial, fintech, telecom, and other key sectors, including representatives from government agencies and major enterprises.
In his opening remarks, Tomas Skoumal, chairman and co-president of Dyna.Ai, emphasized the strategic importance of Nigeria and the broader African market, stating, “For us, it makes sense to start in Nigeria.
There is no bigger country in Africa—this is where the momentum is.” He noted that Africa is no longer just “the future,” but is actively transforming today, driven by rapid digitalization and fintech innovation.
“This is the perfect time to be here,” he added, highlighting that Dyna.Ai sees technology as a vital bridge to financial inclusion and long-term growth across the region.
Skoumal introduced Dyna.Ai’s advanced Agentic AI solutions, including its proprietary Agent Studio and industry-specific language models, designed to power intelligent automation across customer service, marketing, collections, HR and more.
He also underscored the company’s long-term ambition to invest in local talent, stating, “We’re not just here to sell a product—we’re here to build infrastructure, create local jobs, and scale innovation from Nigeria to the rest of Africa.”
Dyna.Ai also showcased its advanced AI technologies at the event, including AvatarGPT, an AI digital human delivering interactive experiences; VoiceGPT, a voice agent featuring authentic local accents for seamless communication in Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo; along with live demonstrations showing how these innovations empower customer engagement and employee experience.
Delivering the keynote address at the event, Tokoni Peter Igoin, Special Assistant to the President on ICT Development and Digital Innovation, underscored the Federal Government’s vision for a secure and forward-thinking digital ecosystem.
“The government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under the visionary leadership of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is fully committed to responsible innovation. Our approach to AI and financial technology is rooted in a positive framework. It encourages creativity while ensuring transparency, data protection, and digital security”, he said
Also in his remarks, Olatunbosun Alake, Lagos State Commissioner of Innovation, Science and Technology, gave insights from the government/regulatory perspective.
He announced that the Lagos State government is also taking steps towards the wide adoption and regulation of artificial intelligence in the state with the planned release of the first AI guidelines for the deployment and management of AI in the coming weeks.
JAMB Waxes Worriedly over Rising Digital Exam Fraud
9mobile Nigeria Inks Agreement to Roam with MTN
Banks, Telcos to Start Deducting USSD Charges from Airtime Today
NIMC Plans to Register 95 Percent Nigerians by December
IHS Nigeria Moves to Enhance G4S Secure Solutions Site Patrols and Increase Operational Efficiency with Patrol Vehicles
News1 day agoSERAP Sues NNPC over Alleged Missing ₦500Bn, Seeks Accountability
News1 day agoFirst Asset Management Receives 2024 Fund Manager Award
General News1 day agoNigeria Relaunches National Talent Export Programme to Unlock $1 Trillion Global Outsourcing Market
E-Business1 day agoDyna.Ai Launches Operations in Nigeria
E-Business1 day agoFarmers to Get Identity Card for Loans, Inputs
Telecom1 day agoNiRA Holds 17th AGM, Elects New Leadership to Propel .ng Domain Growth
Telecom1 day agoARCON Probes 9mobile over Alleged N1Bn Advertising Debt
General News1 day agoFG Plans Special Court for Exam Cheats