From Cables to Caches: The Journey of Online Video in Africa

When you click play on a YouTube video or tune into a live football match online, you probably don’t think much about where that stream is coming from. In North America or Europe, the answer is often simple: the content comes from a nearby CDN (Content Delivery Network) Point of Presence (PoP) just a few miles away.

But in Africa, things work a little differently.

Fewer CDN PoPs in Africa

CDNs work by placing servers (“edge nodes”) close to users so video and web content can be delivered quickly. Unfortunately, Africa has far fewer PoPs compared to Europe, Asia, or North America.

Some global CDNs and platforms like Akamai, Cloudflare, Google, Meta, and Netflix do have a footprint in major hubs (think Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos, Nairobi, or Cairo), but vast parts of the continent lack direct CDN infrastructure.

So Where Do Streams Come From?

When an African viewer hits play, the path the video takes depends on what infrastructure is available nearby:

Local CDN Cache (Best Case)
If the ISP has a CDN cache inside its own network, the stream may come directly from there.
- Examples: Google Global Cache (for YouTube), Netflix Open Connect, Meta’s edge caches.
- This reduces cost for the ISP and improves video quality for the user.
Regional CDN PoPs
If there’s no cache inside the ISP, traffic usually goes to the nearest regional hub:
- Southern Africa: Johannesburg or Cape Town.
- East Africa: Nairobi, Mombasa, or sometimes Dubai.
- West Africa: Lagos or Accra, but often routed to Europe.
- North Africa: Usually served from European PoPs (Marseille, Madrid, Milan) or Cairo.
International Hubs in Europe or the Middle East
In many cases, especially for live streaming, video is delivered from Europe (London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Marseille) or the Middle East (Dubai).

The Role of Submarine Cables

Because there aren’t enough local PoPs, much of Africa’s internet content crosses subsea fiber cables. These cables run under the ocean, linking African ISPs to Europe, Asia, and beyond.

Some of the big ones include:

WACS (West Africa Cable System)
SEACOM and EASSy (East Africa)
ACE (West Africa to France)
2Africa (in progress, will circle the continent)

This backhaul adds latency—a delay of 100–200ms is common—but it’s the backbone of video delivery to much of the continent.

VOD vs. Live Streaming

Video on Demand (VOD), like Netflix or YouTube, benefits greatly from caching. Popular movies and clips are often stored locally inside African ISPs, so playback can be smooth and fast.
Live streaming, however, is harder to cache. If you’re watching a live football match or Twitch stream, the feed is usually pulled in real time from Europe or the Middle East, making buffering and lower quality more likely.

The Viewer Experience

For African viewers, this mix of infrastructure means:

In markets with CDN caches (South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt), streaming quality can be excellent.
In regions without caches, performance depends heavily on international links. Startup times may be longer, and adaptive bitrate streaming often lowers video quality when bandwidth is tight.

Local Developments

The picture is improving fast:

2Africa, a massive new submarine cable backed by Meta and partners, will dramatically increase capacity.
More CDNs are gradually expanding into African ISPs.
Governments and ISPs are investing in regional internet exchange points to keep traffic local.

As this infrastructure grows, African internet users will see better, faster, and more reliable video experiences—closer to what’s already common in Europe or North America.

The Road Forward for African Streaming at 208 Inc.

Africa’s streaming landscape is shaped by a mix of local caches, regional hubs, and international backhaul over subsea cables. While challenges like limited local PoPs and higher latency remain, infrastructure is steadily improving, and the viewing experience is getting better year by year. To accelerate this progress, at 208 Inc. we are stepping in with innovative solutions for the continent. We have built a Multi-CDN with full redundancy across major CDN providers serving Africa, ensuring that video traffic is routed optimally, delivering smoother, faster, and more reliable streaming experiences across Africa.