{"id":222333,"date":"2025-04-11T17:42:27","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T17:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/?p=222333"},"modified":"2025-09-08T19:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T19:08:09","slug":"local-businesses-benefit-from-burkina-fasos-internet-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/blog\/2025\/04\/local-businesses-benefit-from-burkina-fasos-internet-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Businesses Benefit from Burkina Faso\u2019s Internet Development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ten years ago, if there had been a submarine cable cut like the one that happened last year<\/a>, most services in Burkina Faso would have been unavailable or hindered.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things as simple as getting a paycheck in time through an online transfer might not work. Hospitals that hosted patients\u2019 data abroad would not have access to their medical history, and even sending a work email would have failed. A lot of businesses that were managed through digital platforms tended to use online services from abroad, and would lose access to vital information to keep functioning. Everything could come to a halt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Burkina Faso had no Internet exchange point (IXP)<\/a>. Instead, its Internet traffic had to travel to Europe and back through subsea cables, an arrangement that meant slower service, extra expenses, and risks. For example, whenever a subsea cable broke, Burkina Faso and other West African nations would lose much of their Internet access. The challenges and frustrations mounted until they could no longer be ignored.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Several<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Burkina Faso’s First IXP<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Burkina Faso Internet Exchange, or BFIX for short, started in June 2015, exchanging the first bits of data among peers such as telecommunications operators and the national agency in charge of promoting information and communication technologies.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst, we conducted feasibility studies, secured funding, and got stakeholders involved. The next step was to implement the IXP in the public administration data center, form the IXP\u2019s management body, and finally migrate the IXP\u2019s infrastructure into the data center managing international access,\u201d said Sylv\u00e8re Dadioari, who oversees the government\u2019s intranet and helped create the IXP.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early 2019, to support the IXP infrastructure and community growth, Jean-Baptiste Millogo, BFIX executive director since 2018, reached out to the Internet Society\u2019s then-Africa Regional Bureau for support to improve BFIX\u2019s network design and implement IXP best practices.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jean-Baptiste<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In response, the Internet Society came to Ouagadougou to give a week-long training program for BFIX\u2019s network engineers. This enabled the BFIX community to significantly improve its traffic capacity (from 0.5 to 6 gigabits per second at peak times), which enhanced service quality and cut costs for network operators. The Internet Society has further supported BFIX with a content delivery network cache fill grant and equipment through the Sustainable Peering Infrastructure funding program<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empowering Local Businesses and Ensuring Resilience<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Today, thanks to BFIX, entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso can host their data and services locally, safely avoiding problems in case there are disruptions in international networks.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more than just being able to watch higher quality videos without interruption. BFIX can empower local filmmakers to create and share their content locally. If a local entity or startup wants to build a local streaming service with films made in Burkina Faso, we now have the infrastructure to do so,\u201d said Jean-Baptiste Millogo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

BFIX also protects Burkina Faso from the effects of subsea cable cuts. In March 2024, a suspected underwater rockslide off the coast of C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire damaged four subsea cables supplying Internet service to West Africa. As a result, 13 countries in the region experienced either degraded service or a near-total Internet outage<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of BFIX, the cable cut didn\u2019t significantly impact Burkina Faso, whose population could still access locally hosted content, while other nations had to wait up to two months for subsea cable repairs.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe cable cut highlighted the need for local content and services,\u201d said Jean-Baptiste. \u201cCompanies that are still using email services hosted elsewhere faced major disruptions and weren\u2019t able to continue work. Meanwhile, all others that moved to locally-hosted providers didn\u2019t even notice there was an issue.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bak\u00e9non Kon\u00e9, another member of the BFIX team, explained their local experience in these words: \u201cWithout BFIX, nobody would\u2019ve been able to access anything.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A New Digital Landscape for Burkina Faso<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Today, the digital landscape in Burkina Faso is quite different. \u201cHaving a local infrastructure is a game-changer,\u201d said Jean-Baptiste. \u201cIt not only improves Internet speeds, enhances reliability, and brings down costs, but it also boosts Burkina Faso\u2019s digital economy. Many small businesses that depend on an online presence, like video-game developers and e-commerce shops, have opened since BFIX launched, unlocking new potential for the owners and their communities. And with the new Burkina Faso branch of the web-based United Bank for Africa, these businesses can handle their banking remotely too.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

According to recent data from Internet Society Pulse<\/a>, the traffic exchange capacity has grown constantly in the past five years, and over a quarter of all local networks are peering with one of the two exchange points BFIX currently manages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support from donors like you makes it possible for us to support local IXP infrastructure and bring more people online. Donate now.<\/a> <\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Image \u00a9 Mtcurado<\/a> via Getty Images<\/a>, \u00a9 Internet Society, \u00a9 Internet Society Togo Chapter<\/a>, \u00a9 D-WAY Production, \u00a9 Internet Society Pulse<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Burkina Faso Internet Exchange (BFIX) is helping to keep Internet traffic local and build the country’s Internet resilience. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1659,"featured_media":222426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,5130,94],"tags":[],"region_news_regions":[34],"content_category":[6085,6087],"ppma_author":[5299],"class_list":["post-222333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet-access","category-infrastructure-and-community-development","category-internet-exchange-points","region_news_regions-africa","content_category-blog-type","content_category-stories-type"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso.jpg",1200,550,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso-450x206.jpg",450,206,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso-768x352.jpg",768,352,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso-1024x469.jpg",1024,469,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso.jpg",1200,550,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso.jpg",1200,550,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso-250x115.jpg",250,115,true],"square":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso-600x550.jpg",600,550,true],"gform-image-choice-sm":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso.jpg",300,138,false],"gform-image-choice-md":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso.jpg",400,183,false],"gform-image-choice-lg":["https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Ouagadougou-Burkina-Faso.jpg",600,275,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jo\u00e3o Paulo de Vasconcelos Aguiar","author_link":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/author\/aguiar\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Burkina Faso Internet Exchange (BFIX) is helping to keep Internet traffic local and build the country's Internet resilience.","authors":[{"term_id":5299,"user_id":1659,"is_guest":0,"slug":"aguiar","display_name":"Jo\u00e3o Paulo de Vasconcelos Aguiar","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Joao-Paulo-de-Vasconcelos-Aguiar.png","url2x":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Joao-Paulo-de-Vasconcelos-Aguiar.png"},"author_category":"","last_name":"de Vasconcelos Aguiar","first_name":"Jo\u00e3o Paulo","job_title":"","user_url":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222333"},{"taxonomy":"region_news_regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region_news_regions?post=222333"},{"taxonomy":"content_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_category?post=222333"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internetsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=222333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}