Mombasa Joins LINX Network, Strengthening Africa’s Digital Hub

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) have shared that their new interconnection hub, LINX Mombasa, is now ready for business.

LINX Mombasa is a multi-site, interconnected Internet Exchange Point (IXP) within the iColo MBA1 and MBA2 data centers, strategically located in Kenya’s key digital gateway.

The LINX operated IXP is a resilient, future-proof fabric providing a central meeting point for networks to pass their online traffic and keep it closer to the end user. This method known as peering, lowers network latency and improves overall performance and control.

Driving Digital Growth in Africa

Mombasa is currently seeing strong growth in the interconnection market and is also one of the most internationally connected locations in Africa with seven submarine cables connecting Kenya to the entire coastline of Africa, as well as the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.

The expansion of LINX’s Kenyan footprint comes just over 12 months after they launched their first IXP on the continent, LINX Nairobi.

LINX’s global expansion strategy is always to deliver value to their existing member networks while being able to make a difference to the local connectivity ecosystem – for the good of the Internet.

LINX Mombasa will provide both content delivery networks and local ISPs an alternative place to interconnect with additional services available across a resilient and redundant platform.

LINX Head of Global Engagement, Nurani Nimpuno commented.

We are thrilled to be extending our synergies with iColo with whom we have had a successful journey at LINX Nairobi. We were seeing a demand for LINX services in Mombasa when we came to Kenya, and I am very pleased we can now start delivering the same value here.

– Nurani Nimpuno, Head of Global Engagement, LINX

LINX will be the first IXP to have a physical presence in both locations. The technical setup will mimic the engineering at LINX Nairobi using Nokia switches.

Ranjith Cherickel, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of iColo remarked;

We are delighted to host LINX Mombasa at our highly connected data center facilities; MBA1 and MBA2. This collaboration underscores our commitment to providing best-in-class infrastructure and services that drive digital transformation in Africa. The new IXP will create significant opportunities for partnerships, innovation, and growth in the region.

– Ranjith Cherickel, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, iColo

With the additional exchange point at iColo’s Mombasa campus, the peering traffic will continue to experience an upward trajectory and Mombasa City will continue to be the Gateway to East Africa.

There will be no charge for all LINX services at LINX Mombasa for the first 12 months (February 2025 – February 2026) with a free cross connect to the IXP available from the iColo MBA2 site.