Digital Realty and the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria have expanded Nigeria’s internet infrastructure with a new exchange point of presence in Lagos, a move aimed at improving connectivity speeds and lowering costs for network operators.
The new facility, located in Lekki, extends IXPN’s network into one of the country’s fastest-growing data hub corridors, building on its existing presence at Digital Realty’s Victoria Island campus. The expansion increases IXPN’s reach across 12 data centres nationwide and strengthens Lagos’ position as a key interconnection hub in West Africa.
The Lekki site also serves as a landing point for the 2Africa subsea cable, one of the world’s largest submarine cable systems linking Africa to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. This positioning could improve international bandwidth capacity and support Nigeria’s growing digital economy.
Digital Realty said the additional exchange point will allow internet service providers, cloud firms and content platforms to route traffic more efficiently through local networks. This is expected to reduce latency, improve service reliability and cut operational costs tied to international bandwidth usage.
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“This activation at our Lekki campus represents a deepening of Digital Realty commitment to connecting the local and regional digital economy to global networks. By integrating IXPN’s exchange point, we are delivering resilient peering that enables lower latency and can increase operational efficiency for our customers,” said Ike Nnamani, the company’s managing director in Nigeria.
For IXPN, the move supports its expanding community of over 130 peering members – spanning ISPs, global content, and cloud operators – delivering greater resilience and more efficient local internet traffic exchange.
“Expanding IXPN to Digital Realty’s Lekki campus is a significant step in our journey to enhance connectivity across Nigeria. Our members are expected to benefit from faster, low-latency pathways, allowing broader digital inclusion and fueling Nigeria’s digital economy,” Rudman continued,” said Muhammed Rudman, CEO, IXPN.
IXPN said the move will benefit its more than 130 members, including telecom operators and global content providers, by offering faster and more resilient data exchange routes.
Nigeria has been pushing to localise internet traffic as part of efforts to improve performance and reduce dependence on foreign infrastructure. IXPN data shows peak domestic traffic grew from over 1 terabit per second in April 2025 to more than 2 terabits per second by March 2026, highlighting rising demand for local data exchange.
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Expanding local peering capacity is critical as Nigeria’s internet usage grows, driven by video streaming, cloud adoption and financial technology services. By keeping more traffic within the country, operators can deliver faster services while saving millions of dollars annually on international transit costs.
The Lekki expansion also gives Digital Realty dual-campus operations in Lagos, improving redundancy and disaster recovery options for customers operating in the region.
The development underscores increasing investment in Nigeria’s digital infrastructure, as operators position the country as a regional connectivity hub amid rising data consumption across Africa.
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