Middle-mile infrastructure is essential for connectivity. It is composed of Internet exchange points (IXPs), data centres and cloud computing and is a critical link between international connectivity (first mile) and the infrastructure that connects users (last mile). IXPs enable Internet service providers (ISPs) and content providers to exchange their data traffic, which offers substantial advantages, including reduced cost, increased reliability through redundancy, improved quality, and reduction in time needed to retrieve data.
Internet Exchange Points and stages of growth
As countries progress through the stages, prices drop, performance improves and traffic increases
Note: See report for detailed notes and sources.
Data centres play a fundamental role in the digital economy by providing space for data storage of domestic content and processing of large datasets. Despite their crucial role, few data centres are found in low- and middle-income economies due to a range of elements including lack of demand, low income, natural disasters, political instability, energy supply, and ease of doing business.
Cloud computing offers computing power, on-demand infrastructure, competitive cost, maintenance, and advanced big data technologies. While it is attractive to store data on the cloud, cost, latency, and national security remain important considerations for countries.
For a country to improve its middle-mile connectivity, investment is crucial. The building blocks of an attractive data ecosystem include liberalization of the telecommunication market; putting in place data protection laws to help attract investment on data centres and cloud computing; addressing energy supply by allowing independent renewable power producers and suppliers to enter the market; and collaboration between governments, IXPs, ISPs, data centre operators, and investors.