Asia-Pacific content booms across Africa

Demand for digital content originating in the Asia-Pacific region is rising fast across Africa. From videos to gaming downloads, users across the continent are consuming more media and applications hosted thousands of kilometres away and they’re expecting those services to be instant, seamless, and always available.

To meet this surge, a strategic infrastructure collaboration has emerged between a leading content delivery network and a pan-African backbone provider. CDNetworks has expanded a collaboration with IP transit provider Workonline Communications, enabling high-performance delivery of Asia-Pacific content across South, East, and West Africa.

“Our sustained engagement since 2019 with Workonline, and first go-live in 2023, reflects our long-term commitment to Africa,” says Antony Li, global head of infrastructure at CDNetworks. “This extensive relationship with Workonline enables us to provide fast and reliable delivery of APAC-origin content to users across South, East, and West Africa.”

Benjamin Deveaux, head of business development at Workonline Communications Group, says: “Africa’s mobile-first landscape demands low-latency, high-availability CDN delivery. By integrating with Workonline’s IP transit services and extensive network reach, CDNetworks is uniquely positioned to meet the rising appetite for Asian digital content, whether for entertainment, commerce, or education.”

This translates into faster streaming, improved quality for live events, and enhanced performance for mobile apps and online games, essential for both consumers and businesses. App and media providers benefit from more efficient targeting of African audiences, while operators and developers can scale digital services like social commerce, mobile learning, and e-sports with confidence.

A mobile-first continent: Africa’s internet boom

Africa remains the world’s most mobile-centric region, with up to 76% of internet traffic now originating from mobile devices, and Nigeria alone registering 86% mobile traffic, compared to a global average around 60%. Exponential smartphone adoption coincides with expanding 3G, 4G, and 5G coverage. Eighty two per cent of Africans now have mobile broadband.

By the end of 2024, Africa’s population of internet users exceeded 600-million, while mobile data usage soared ~40% annually, according to IFC-backed data center deployers. This rapid growth underscores a shift toward rich-media consumption including online video, interactive gaming, live apps, all of which demand fast, reliable, low-latency delivery to ensure user satisfaction.

Asia-Pacific’s global content footprint continues rising: the APAC media streaming market, valued at USD 33-billion in 2024, is projected to exceed USD 78-billion by 2033, growing at a ~10% CAGR. APAC video subscribers for platforms like Netflix are set to reach 70-million by 2029, with the region accounting for over 35% of global net new subscriptions.

In Africa, CDNetworks has documented a sharp increase in demand for Asia-originating content, reflecting shifting viewer preferences. Ampere Analysis projects that streaming video-on-demand subscriptions in sub-Saharan Africa could triple to 3.4-million, generating ~$220-million revenues by 2027. Clearly, Asia is now a major source of digital content in Africa, not only entertainment, but also education, gaming, and social channels.

Growth trajectory

CDNetworks initiated its collaboration with Workonline in South Africa in 2023, recognising growing interest in Asian content across the country. The partnership then expanded to include Kenya in early 2024, aligning with Kenya’s expanding 4G/5G infrastructure. Discussions are now underway to further connect Ghana and Nigeria – two of Africa’s largest internet economies -where mobile traffic is now 83% and 75%, respectively.

Antony Li recalls initiating contact with Workonline back in 2019, and after pricing alignment and infrastructure readiness, deployment proceeded in 2023, first in South Africa, then Kenya. “Our content from APAC was suddenly in high demand across Africa,” says Li. “That triggered immediate expansion into East and now West Africa.”

Digital content users today expect instant play, zero buffering, and seamless experiences. In mobile-first markets, every second delay dramatically hurts user engagement, ad conversions, and app usage.

CDNetworks’ edge caching combined with Workonline’s IP transit, with mega Points-of-Presence in major cities across the continent, ensures optimal routing of Asian content directly to African end-users. This infrastructure minimizes hops, reduces packet loss, and cuts latency, which is essential for applications such as live streaming, e-sports, and interactive mobile shopping.

Africa’s network capacity is expanding, with submarine capacity being only half the equation. High-performance CDN delivery requires robust terrestrial backhaul, local peering, and intelligent routing, which is precisely what Workonline provides. Bringing content from APAC servers, through coastal landing points, and into neighbourhood PoPs across the continent ensures speed, reliability, and resilience.

Despite its potential, Africa still has less than 1% of global data centre capacity. Mobile data costs remain a barrier particularly for women entrepreneurs, with 45% struggling to engage due to expense. Still, the continent shows deep digital momentum.

These dynamics make a distributed, low-latency CDN with strong local access essential to closing the digital divide and enabling equitable mobile-first engagement.