Dear RIPE Atlas Community,

I hope this email finds you well. My name is Semebia Wurah, and I am a Research Associate at Carnegie Mellon University Africa, working under the supervision of Prof. Theophilus Benson.

We are conducting large-scale traceroute measurements using RIPE Atlas to analyze the Internet ecosystem in Africa, with a particular focus on AS peering growth and IXP utilization. This research aims to quantify interconnection trends, detect inefficiencies in routing, and assess the impact of IXPs on regional traffic exchange.

Given the scale of our study, we require a substantial number of credits (approximately 500,000,000) to sustain our measurements over an extended period of at least 4 months. These credits will allow us to:

• Capture peak and off-peak Internet behavior by running measurements at different times of the day.
• Measure interconnectivity across African ASes and IXPs to analyze how traffic is exchanged regionally.
• Ensure statistically meaningful results by collecting data over multiple weeks.

We truly appreciate any additional credits the community can share, as this will significantly enhance the depth and accuracy of our findings. We are happy to share insights from our research with the RIPE community.

Thank you in advance for your time and support. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or require further details about our study.

Best regards,
Semebia Wurah
Research Associate
Carnegie Mellon University Africa