IEA News
Workonline Communications, one of Africa’s largest IP transit networks, has strengthened its presence in East Africa with the launch of a new Point of Presence (POP) at iColo’s NBO1 data center in Nairobi, Kenya. The expansion underscores Workonline’s commitment to delivering reliable, high-performance internet solutions in the region and improves network resiliency to support growing demand.
As East Africa continues to establish itself as a digital innovation hub, robust connectivity is critical to supporting cloud adoption, enterprise growth, and the region’s digital economy. Kenya, in particular, plays a vital role as a connectivity gateway for neighbouring countries, including Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and beyond. According to the Digital 2025: Kenya report by DataReportal, Kenya’s internet penetration rate stood at 48% and over 27.4 million internet users at the start of 2025. This is a key indicator that the demand for stable, scalable internet solutions is higher than ever.
This new POP in Nairobi is part of a broader strategy to enhance the resilience and redundancy of the Internet in East Africa. It provides critical enhancements, including splitting national long-distance capacity between Nairobi and Mombasa to support dual PoPs, adding redundancy within Mombasa’s metro infrastructure, and integrating new capacity through the 2Africa subsea cable system. These measures are aimed at ensuring a stronger, more stable network for clients across Kenya and the broader East African region.
“Kenya and East Africa are pivotal to our growth strategy,” said Benjamin Deveaux, Head of Business Development at Workonline Communications Group. “Our investment in this new POP and our collaboration with iColo not only reinforces our network’s stability but also highlights our dedication to providing customers with robust, reliable internet services. The increased network resilience will benefit our clients by offering improved redundancy and the flexibility of aggregating traffic across multiple POPs using the 95th percentile model.”
Workonline’s collaboration with iColo, part of global data center operator, Digital Realty, brings together two companies with a shared vision of fostering a thriving, open internet ecosystem. iColo’s carrier-neutral data centre offers an ideal environment for enterprises, content providers, and internet service providers (ISPs) to connect and expand. This is the fourth PoP that Workonline has deployed in Kenya. It further entrenches Workonline’s customers’ ability to leverage direct access to global carriers, cloud services, and content providers, enhancing their network performance and operational efficiency.
“We are delighted to bring onboard Workonline Communications to our connected data community at NBO1. This new entry contributes to our continuously growing number of internet service providers making the facility a true connectivity hub. It will also heavily support internet accessibility and efficiency while driving digital transformation not only in Nairobi but also in the entire East African region, commented Rina Sodha, Director, Customer Implementation of iColo
This latest development solidifies Workonline’s position as a key enabler of digital connectivity in Africa. By investing in new infrastructure and enhancing the resilience of its network, Workonline is ensuring that businesses and service providers in East Africa benefit from faster, more reliable, and scalable internet solutions.
Workonline (AS 37271) is one of the largest and fastest-growing IP transit networks in Africa. The company provides highly scalable, high-quality, and flexible service options to meet the needs of carriers, internet service providers, content providers, and mobile operators.
iColo: A Digital Realty Company designs, builds, and operates state-of-the-art carrier-neutral data centres in Kenya and Mozambique. It serves a broad spectrum of clients, including telecom carriers, ISPs, IT and cloud providers, content providers, and enterprise and financial services customers. As part of Digital Realty’s PlatformDIGITAL®, iColo connects clients to a global data community spanning 300+ facilities in over 50 metros across 27 countries. For more information, visit www.icolo.io or follow on LinkedIn and X.
