Speaking during a presentation at the African Tech Alliance (AfriTECH 5.0) Forum on Thursday last week, Rudman explained that local traffic exchange, where ISPs, content providers, and networks exchange data within Nigeria rather than routing it through international paths, remains the backbone of a modern, efficient internet economy.

He noted that Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) enable this by ensuring that data generated in Nigeria stays within the country, leading to faster connectivity, better user experience, and significant cost savings.

Rudman emphasised that the most visible benefit for users is dramatically reduced latency.

According to him, internet traffic routed abroad often travels through undersea cables to Europe before returning to Nigeria, resulting in delays between 150ms and 300ms. However, with local peering at IXPN, latency drops to as low as 5ms to 10ms.

“This is the difference between a frozen video call and a smooth one,” Rudman said. “For real-time applications like gaming, fintech transactions, and cloud services, milliseconds matter.”

He added that lower latency boosts productivity for businesses and enhances the performance of modern digital tools.

Rudman listed data sovereignty as another critical benefit of keeping traffic local, and explained that when Nigerian data is forced to travel through foreign infrastructures, it exposes the country to unnecessary security and surveillance risks.

“Local traffic exchange keeps Nigerian data protected under Nigerian laws and reduces exposure to foreign interception,” he stated.

He also stressed that maintaining local routing is essential for continuity during cable cuts. “If an undersea cable fails, locally hosted services, such as .ng websites and email, continue running normally,” he added.

Citing a major milestone, Rudman revealed that the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria has recently crossed 2 terabits per second (Tbps) in peak domestic traffic, and described this as evidence of the rapid localisation of Nigerian internet traffic, with some members already achieving up to 70% traffic localisation.

According to him, this growth has saved the Nigerian economy hundreds of millions of dollars in international bandwidth costs, positioned Lagos as a digital hub for West Africa, and provided the foundation for local innovation in fintech, media, cloud services, and more.

“A fast, cheap, and reliable internet is the platform upon which new digital businesses are built,” he said.

Rudman urged policymakers, telecom operators, businesses, and global content providers to deepen their commitment to local peering, and recommended that government recognises IXPs as critical national infrastructure, mandate public-sector peering, and create policies that incentivise local hosting.

He further noted that while Telecoms and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) peer more aggressively to strengthen the ecosystem, content providers such as Google, Meta, Netflix, and the rest, deploy more local caches.

While urging businesses to choose ISPs that participate in local exchange and adopt Nigeria’s online identity such as .ng, the IXPN Chief Executive posited that local traffic exchange is no longer a technical luxury but a cornerstone of Nigeria’s digital sovereignty, economic competitiveness, and national security.

“Local traffic exchange is the foundation for a faster, safer, and more sovereign digital future,” he said.

The fifth edition of the Africa Tech Alliance Forum, (AfriTECH 5.0), which held on Thursday, November 13, 2025, at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos, had as its theme, “AI & Sovereign Tech: Building Africa’s Digital Independence.”

The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) confirmed this milestone, reiterating the country’s goal to localise digital infrastructure and reduce reliance on foreign bandwidth.

At 1Tbps, the speed and volume of internet traffic handled locally in Nigeria have grown to the level where over a million Zoom calls could run at once without issues. It also means that around 200,000 users could stream high-definition Nollywood films at the same time without any buffering.

IXPN’s Chief Executive Officer, Muhammed Rudman, described the achievement as a huge one. “For Nigeria, hitting this milestone means reducing reliance on international bandwidth, decreasing latency for local services, and strengthening our position as Africa’s digital heartbeat. This milestone is a testament to the power of collaboration, innovation, and the relentless pursuit of a faster, more connected Nigeria.”

This means more data now moves within Nigeria, handled by domestic infrastructure. This also comes with real financial and functional benefits. Service providers no longer need to depend so heavily on international cables or foreign data centres, which means fewer costs and less vulnerability when external connections break down.

Again, Nigerian businesses could save millions of dollars annually by exchanging traffic locally. That’s money that can now be redirected towards building better services or expanding digital capacity. And users? They get faster connections, smoother experiences on fintech apps, and better results when attending virtual classes or meetings.

Not just tech firms will benefit, banks, e-commerce platforms, schools, hospitals and any service that requires a steady internet will find stability in this. 

Rudman pointed out that strengthening local infrastructure doesn’t just improve quality of service; it also provides insurance against global internet disruptions.

Years of steady growth in local traffic contributed to this. Surveys among IXPN members show that some now keep up to 70% of their internet traffic within Nigerian borders. That’s a sharp contrast to just a few years ago, when the bulk of data had to travel across the world and back, introducing delays and extra costs.

Raphael Iloka, the organisation’s marketing manager, noted the human side of this transformation. “As more content providers, ISPs, banks, and public institutions localize their traffic through the IXP, end users benefit directly. We’re not just routing data, we’re building the foundation for Nigeria’s digital economy.”

IXPN is the country’s largest Internet Exchange Point and serves as a key node for West African connectivity. Over 130 organisations are already linked through its network, including giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and TikTok, alongside Nigeria’s mobile network operators.

Its reach goes beyond Lagos, IXPN has active exchange points in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Enugu, Delta, and Gombe. More are on the way. The organisation has plans to establish additional PoPs across the country by 2025, attract more content providers, and deploy technologies like caching to help platforms run more efficiently.

These initiatives have also earned IXPN recognition globally. It now operates as a MANRS-compliant exchange point, a standard that signals secure and trustworthy internet routing.

This progress is not accidental. It comes from deliberate investment, better collaboration among service providers, and an understanding that Nigeria can’t afford to outsource its internet forever, and so, the traffic growth is commendable.

In a statement issued in Lagos, Mr. Muhammed Rudman, Chief Executive Officer of IXPN, stated that all Mobile Network Operators, major network operators in Nigeria, as well as some of the largest Content Networks such as Facebook (Meta), Google, and Microsoft, are among the networks peering at the exchange point, which was designated as a West African regional exchange point by the African Union a few years ago.

According to Muhammed, reaching the 100-member mark demonstrates the IXPN’s broader reach and excellent service delivery.

He mentioned that IXPN has multiple locations across Nigeria, making its services easily accessible thereby allowing local service providers to save costs through peering.

“In fact, we have recently seen an increase in connections from even international networks, indicating our commitment to providing excellent services with high availability.” he said.

IXPN members’ surveys conducted over the years have revealed an increase in the percentage of local traffic in Nigeria, with a recent report indicating that connected members are able to localize/domesticate more than 70% of their traffic through the exchange point.

This results in significant cost savings for the connected networks, as well as reduced latency, increased security and increased redundancy.

With a single connection to any of the nine (9) IXPN sites across Nigeria, the over 100 members currently connected to IXPN have direct access to each other. Five of the sites are in Lagos, with one each in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, and Kano.

The Lagos POPs are all interconnected via high-capacity links and connect to the POPs in the other four cities in an effort to extend connectivity to the unserved and underserved regions in the country.

The attendees described the session as an eye-opener in terms of localizing traffic and growing the Internet ecosystem in Nigeria.

They noted that the training affords them the opportunity to have knowledge of new global trends, and best practices in the interconnectivity of networks, particularly when it comes to peering with an Internet eXchange Point (IXP).

“The Border Gateway Protocol training with IXPN was informative and I learned some new things when it comes to peering with an internet exchange point,” said one of the participants, Philip Omugbe, IP Engineer at Hoop Telecoms Limited.

According to them, the training bridges the knowledge gap that exists within the Internet ecosystem, as they can now gain a proper understanding of how the Border Gateway Protocol works and how they can fully utilize their connectivity to the exchange point for maximum impact.

The training came at an ideal time for Bunmi Adeleye, GM Technical Operations, Syscodes Communications Ltd, because many network operators and engineers are unfamiliar with the workings of the Internet Exchange Point.

“The training was quite hands-on, interactive, and expository as there were practical live LAB sessions. Many thanks to the IXPN team, and I hope they sustain the momentum,” he said on the sideline of the training that took place at the IXPN Academy located at its corporate headquarters in Lagos.

Meanwhile, Mr. Muhammed Rudman, Chief Executive Officer of the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), described Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) earlier in his opening remarks as a gateway protocol that allows the internet to exchange routing information between autonomous systems (AS). He went on to say that the BGP training is a value-added service provided by IXPN to its member organizations and other stakeholders.

He stated that the training is necessary because the dynamics of the Internet ecosystem are changing. As a result, it is only natural to educate member organizations and other sector stakeholders on current technology trends and best practices, particularly as they relate to connectivity to the eXchange Point.

“The goal of today’s training is to provide members of the Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) with the fundamentals and workings of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which is critical to us as a one-stop peering point for service and content providers,” he said.

He also revealed that capacity building for its members will be carried out across Nigeria, having previously done so in Kano and Lagos.

According to him, the next bus stop will be Abuja, followed by Port Harcourt later this year.

In recent years, IXPN has established eight Points of Presence (POP) across Nigeria in an effort to keep Internet traffic local and, ultimately, reduce capital flight. While four are in Lagos, the other four are in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, and Kano.

The Lagos POP connects to each other as well as the POPs in the other four cities in an effort to reach the unserved and underserved.