Africa Internet Summit 2026 Opens in Nairobi with Focus on Digital Infrastructure and Collaboration

Nairobi hosts Africa's biggest internet gathering for the first time

The Africa Internet Summit 2026 opened at Emara Ole Sereni in Nairobi on Monday, the first time Kenya has hosted what is widely regarded as the continent's most significant annual gathering for internet professionals, policymakers, and regulators.

Running through Friday June 26, AIS'26 is jointly organised by AFRINIC and AfNOG and hosted locally by TESPOK. Kenya is the fourth country to host the summit, following South Africa in 2023, Mauritius in 2024, and Ghana in 2025.

The summit's backdrop is notable. AFRINIC, Africa's Regional Internet Registry, is coming off a period of significant governance turbulence. Emmanuel Adewale Adedokun, Chairman of AFRINIC's Board, addressed this directly at the opening, saying the organisation is entering a new phase focused on restoring stability, rebuilding trust, and reinforcing the community-led processes that underpin Africa's internet development. AFRINIC's Annual General Members Meeting is taking place alongside the summit this week, giving members a formal space to engage on organisational governance.

Beyond that, the week's technical agenda covers internet governance, network resilience, digital inclusion, IPv6 deployment, routing security, and DNS operations. The IPv6 question is increasingly urgent. As Africa's internet user base pushes toward a projected one billion users by 2029, the depletion of IPv4 addresses puts real pressure on ISPs to migrate legacy infrastructure, and the technical training running through the week is largely aimed at network engineers navigating that transition.

Speaking at the opening, Mary Kerema, Secretary for ICT, Digital Economy and Emerging Technologies, framed the internet as a core enabler of economic growth, public service delivery, and education, and reaffirmed Kenya's commitment to policies that support a secure and inclusive digital economy. James Turuthi, TESPOK's Chairman, cited Kenya's internet exchange point and regional capacity-building work as benchmarks while also naming the gaps that remain: affordability, digital skills, cybersecurity, and infrastructure coverage outside urban centres. David Mugonyi, Director General of the Communications Authority of Kenya, made the case for coordinated continental regulation as the precondition for sustainable digital growth across the continent.

Prof. Nii Quaynor, who convenes AfNOG, noted that the summit has held together as a platform for technical cooperation and policy dialogue since it was established in 2012. AIS'26 is also running in a hybrid format, with participants joining both in person and online, extending the week's conversations beyond those able to make it to Nairobi.

The Internet Society is also hosting an ISOC Day on Friday June 26 as part of the summit programme.