Nigeria’s Internet Exchange Point: A Regional Hub for West Africa
Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) is emerging as a key regional hub for internet traffic in West Africa, driven by significant infrastructure upgrades and increased traffic volumes. This progress was highlighted during the 2026 members engagement forum held in Lagos, where Muhammed Rudman, CEO of IXPN, shared insights into the organization’s achievements.
Milestones in Traffic Growth
One of the most notable milestones achieved by IXPN last year was the recording of one terabit of traffic in March 2025. This marked IXPN as the 63rd internet exchange point globally. Rudman emphasized that this achievement was not just about volume but also about the strategic steps taken to ensure sustained growth.
“We pushed members to upgrade their infrastructure from 1 Gig to 10 Gig, and then from 10 Gig to 100 Gig. We implemented a strategic infrastructure upgrade across our networks, including 400 Gig enable switches, increased fiber links to all data centers, and onboarded 17 new members last year,” he said. These efforts ensured operational excellence and a 24/7 network uptime.
Industry Impact and Data Sovereignty
The increase in traffic has had a significant impact on data sovereignty. According to a survey conducted by IXPN, 54% of its members reported exchanging 50% or more of their traffic locally, which is a major step toward self-sufficiency.
“IXPN is setting a benchmark for other African Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). Despite being established later than some counterparts in South Africa and Kenya, we are ahead in terms of traffic volume,” Rudman noted. The organization is also promoting intra-African connectivity, with customers from countries like Niger, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast now connected to Nigeria’s network.
Network Infrastructure Development
Technical advancements have played a crucial role in IXPN’s success. The deployment of sFlow technology allows for peer-to-peer traffic analysis, enabling the organization to monitor and optimize traffic between members and data centers without accessing content.
Upgrades in network links included increasing capacity from Digital Realty to Equinix from 300 Gigabits per second to 500 Gigabits per second, and from Digital Realty to Rack Center from 200 Gigabits per second to 500 Gigabits per second. Similarly, the Open Access Data Centre to Equinix link was upgraded from 20 Gigabits per second to 200 Gigabits per second.
IXPN also upgraded the IXP manager, providing members with a login portal to monitor their traffic, ports, and perform configurations independently.
Technical Project Milestones
Microsoft Content Cache was deployed in Lagos, initially at 25 Gigabits per second. By 2025, the infrastructure was upgraded to 75 Gigabits per second to accommodate Microsoft updates and downloads. The same server was also deployed in Abuja to improve access for users in Kano and Abuja.
Google Global Cache (GGC) was another project that saw significant upgrades. From 53 Gigabits per second servers in 2024, the capacity was increased to 153 Gigabits per second, handling a large volume of YouTube traffic. Ongoing efforts are underway to further enhance these servers.
Strategic Partnerships
IXPN has formed strategic partnerships to expand its influence. An MoU was signed with an IXP in Senegal during the West African Peering Forum, with interest from ISPs in Gabon and Rwanda. Additionally, a partnership with CIRA (Canada Internet Registry Association) brought secondary authoritative servers to Nigeria as an anycast instance, hosting top-level domains such as alibaba.info.org.ca.
This collaboration has already resulted in over 1,000 DNS responses per second. With 13 global root servers worldwide, Nigeria’s .ng domain plays a critical role in translating IP addresses into domain names.
Future Roadmap and Vision
In his welcome address, Charles Nmeregini, Business Development Manager at IXPN, emphasized that the members’ engagement forum is more than an annual event. “Today, we celebrate the milestones that have bolstered local traffic exchange, reduced latency, and lowered the cost of internet access,” he said.
He also outlined the 2026 service roadmap, aimed at deepening interconnection, enhancing service delivery, and unlocking value across the digital ecosystem. “We are not just exchanging data; we are exchanging ideas that will drive the next wave of Nigeria’s digital economy,” Nmeregini concluded.
