A new study into the economic effects of a data center suggests that internet traffic grows four-fold in a region and the local business community makes massive collective savings.

Research by Analysys Mason found that internet exchange points (IXPs) in Kenya and Nigeria have saved millions in telecommunications costs, raised revenue, speeded up data exchange and boosted local hosting services following the construction of the East Africa Data Center (EADC) in Nairobi.

The report revealed internet exchange point Kenya IXP (KIXP) has cut the average latency of local traffic from 200 to 600ms to 2 to10ms.

Its presence also induced Google to place a cache in both Kenya and Nigeria in 2011, which significantly increased the amount of locally distributed content at faster speeds.

Improved access to local content has led to increased usage, subsequently helping to increase the mobile data market by at least US$6m per year in Kenya, according to the analyst firm.

KIXP, now one of the largest internet exchanges in Sub Saharan Africa, saves local providers nearly $1.5m a year on international connectivity charges, according to the Internet Society.

Telecommunications Service Providers Association of Kenya’s CEO Fiona Asonga said KIXP had a key role to play in satisfying the growth in Kenyan demand for internet bandwidth and latency-sensitive traffic.

“KIXP now provides an average of 1.2Gbps in bandwidth exchange, compared with 900 Kbps a decade ago,” Asonga said.

In 2008, KIXP reported an annual growth rate of over 300% making it the fastest growing internet exchange point in the world, it claimed.

Currently Africa has no Tier VI data centers but EADC’s availability is currently rated at 99.98, according to Analysys Mason.

EADC, the first Tier III data center in East and Central Africa, was built as part of the drive to raise local internet traffic and performance to international standards.

KIXP is used by internet service providers, mobile operators, network infrastructure operators, banks, academic and research networks, security experts, media houses and government institutions.