Measuring the Internet economy in Africa

In response to a rise in Internet shutdowns in Africa, advocacy organisations in Africa have been calculating the size of the internet economy. For example, the Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), measures ripple effects such as the interruption of supply chains in addition to direct losses incurred due to the disruption of the Internet. This model has now been developed into a tool that estimates the cost of an Internet disruption which will be launched at the Forum on Internet Freedom in Ghana later this year. While such tools were developed for advocacy against Internet shutdowns, they also help to measure the size of the Internet economy.