Afghanistan’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has announced the activation of the country’s national internet exchange center. The system is intended to allow participating networks to exchange more local internet traffic inside Afghanistan instead of sending it through international routes.
The project, valued at about 10 million afghanis, includes servers, firewalls, backup equipment and tools used to analyse network traffic. The ministry says the infrastructure can also support local hosting of websites, email and other digital services.
An internet exchange does not create additional international bandwidth by itself. Its main benefit is to shorten the route for traffic exchanged between connected domestic networks. The practical effect on speed, reliability and costs will depend on how many providers connect, how much traffic they exchange locally and how the wider network is managed.