The London Internet Exchange (LINX) and Internet Exchange incubator Asteroid have announced that they have entered a co-operative agreement to further benefit the future of interconnectivity in East Africa.
From now until the end of the year, Asteroid and LINX will be working together to transition customer networks connected at Asteroid Mombasa and Nairobi, welcoming them to LINX Mombasa and Nairobi interconnection hubs.
Remco van Mook, Asteroid CEO comments:
“We are very proud of our achievements in Kenya over the last five years. Asteroid entering the market drastically changed the landscape for interconnectivity. We are excited to have entered into this agreement with LINX and trust they will continue our mission to support the growth of interconnection in East Africa.”
“This agreement plays into each of our strengths – this is the third interconnection market we have successfully incubated; LINX is great at running large IXP platforms. Asteroid’s job in Kenya is done.”
The transition to LINX will be a fully supported journey to ensure the Asteroid customer networks arrive at their new Mombasa and / or Nairobi interconnection points smoothly. During the transition period, the customers will be supported by both Asteroid and LINX technical stakeholders.
LINX CEO Jennifer Holmes comments;
“We feel very privileged to carry on the baton so to speak. We will drive to continue the amazing work Asteroid has achieved in Kenya and look forward to working with their customers on the next step of their interconnection journey. LINX’s priority is to continue to support the growth of interconnection in Kenya to the benefit of the local community and the wider global ecosystem.”
Asteroid customers will be able to maintain and if desired, scale their network further on a local level with access to potential new peers in new locations in Kenya and also globally with LINX locations in the UK and US and coming soon, Ghana.
They will be supported by LINX’s 24/7 engineering team and also have access to additional interconnection services such as LINX Private VLAN and unique solutions such as the Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS).
Asteroid and LINX will be working together to communicate each step of the transition to the networks involved ahead of Asteroid’s cease of operations in Kenya at the end of 2025.
LINX CEO Jennifer Holmes and Asteroid CEO Remco van Mook will be available for questions at ITW Africa in Nairobi on 9-10 September 2025.