Port Costs

INX levies a monthly port cost for use of the Internet exchange. Aside from the regular operational costs of operating the exchanges, INX-ZA uses the port fees collected to subsidise many community projects, all geared towards sustaining, and improving the Internet ecosystem in South Africa. These include the provision of Critical Internet Services (eg. DNS Root Instances), training and capacity building, building infrastructure to span each city, and advocacy for a continued open Internet environment in South Africa.  


Ports ports are our sole source of revenue, and are set by the community-elected management committee, so, if you think that these fees are erroneous, please step up and volunteer for the committee. Additionally, if you'd like to sponsor our work, to help drop/lower port costs for everyone, please contact us!

The table below explains the monthly port fee. Members of the South African Internet Service Providers' Association (SPA) are eligible for discounts on all INX ports; please query this with the ISPA secretariat.

+-----------+------------+--------------------+
| Port Size | Port Fee   | Discount Available |
+===========+============+====================+
| 1Gb/s     |  ZAR 1,495 |         NO         |
+-----------+------------+--------------------+
| 10Gb/s    |  ZAR 3,995 |         Yes        |
+-----------+------------+--------------------+
| 100Gb/s   | ZAR 17,495 |         Yes        |
+-----------+------------+--------------------+

Many data centre operators have incentive schemes in place to subsidise the INX port cost at their respective data-centres. Africa Data Centres (ADC) and Digital Parks Africa (DPA) both cover the cost of peering ports at their respective sites. Please ask your data-centre representative, or contact our Ops team for further assistance.

The INXes have a long history of supporting Internet development, and port fees are generally waived for ports used by Critical Infrastructure (such as DNS Root Servers), and other not-for-profit associations located at an INX. The community elected management committee remains responsible for determining which services it is appropriate to have hosted at the INXes, and when port fees should be waived.

The INX Management committee has waived port fees for DINX.

Cross-Connect Costs

INX-ZA does not levy cross-connect charges. Where applicable, this is done by the colocation provider. We've negotiated agreements for zero recurring charges if you connect to the INX fabric at any Dimension Data, xneelo, ADC, or DPA facility. Thusfar, the only colocation provider that charges for cross-connects on a recurring basis is Teraco.

The table below outlays the ports costs as communicated by our data centre hosts.

* waived if you are pre-cabled to the MMR