Orange, on Wednesday has opened West Africa’s first very large-capacity IP Point of Presence (PoP). The operational launch of this facility, which is located in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, is set to enhance Internet connectivity in the sub-region by offering faster connection speeds and improved reliability for wholesale customers. An IP Point of Presence is part of the technical infrastructure equipment necessary to enable local networks to access the Internet through an interconnection point with long-distance carrier networks.

Abidjan also hosts a landing point for the ACE submarine cable, a 17,000km-long cable which runs down the west coast of Africa from Europe. This makes it an ideal location for the IP PoP facility and allows for optimal connectivity with networks across the entire region.

As a fully redundant IP PoP, this new facility opens up the region and allows Orange to offer high quality, secure connections over the wholesale market to West African countries. Over the medium and long term, the Abidjan IP PoP will facilitate the expansion of the African IP Market, which is an area of rapidly growing economic activity that sees Internet traffic rising at a rate of 41% per year (Telegeography 2013).

By connecting to this very large-capacity PoP, wholesale customers, regional operators and Internet Service Providers will benefit from cost-effective connections to a Tier 1 operator. Additionally, the customer experience will be improved due to this connection point which will bring content providers closer to Internet users.

Orange is a major Internet connectivity enabler and already has a strong position in Africa, where capacity is constantly increasing. Orange’s objective is to adapt to changes in the industry and become the leading operator in the Internet era.