Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria welcomes CBN, six other members

The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) recently welcomed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Huawei Clouds, Orange Telecoms, Proline Technologies, Ciudad Infrastructure Limited, Choice2mobile Technologies Limited, and Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited, into its fold.

IXPN has been championing the efforts to get more businesses operating within Nigeria to host their data in-country rather than the prevailing practice of hosting data outside the country.

Founded in 2006 by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in partnership with the Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), IXPN was created to reduce costs of connectivity in millions of dollars in offshore internet bandwidth payments, reduce latency from 900 milliseconds for local content, serve as the central point for connecting higher education institutions towards the development of National Research and Educational Network (NREN).

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The seven new members take the total number of network operators presently interconnected to over 80, with the attendant benefit of getting direct access to multiple internet networks with a single connection.

Muhammad Rudman, chief executive officer of IXPN said the additions were a positive response to years of advocacy by the exchange that organisations operating in Nigeria should host their data in-country rather than in foreign countries. The benefit for companies hosting in-country includes faster access to their content by the end-users, payment in local currency for the hosting service, and ultimately, helping the growth of the Nigerian economy.

“We are delighted to have these seven reputable Network Operators recently join the exchange point. This, for us, is a pointer that the call for Internet domestication by IXPN, some stakeholders, and well-meaning Nigerians is being responded to, positively” Rudman said in the statement.

Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) presently covers eight Points of Presence (PoPs) in Nigeria; four in Lagos and one branch each in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, and Kano. The Lagos PoPs are all interconnected to each other with high-capacity links and with full redundancy. To promote even growth for local Internet traffic across the country, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) provided the connectivity between Lagos and the other four branches in the country.

Also, as part of efforts to improve performance, services, and scalability which is critical in today’s evolving Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, IXPN last year acquired Switches capable of 25Gbps, 40Gbps, and 100Gbps ports capacity for its entire network in Lagos. The essence of upgrading the switches is to help the company address the current and anticipated needs, of its growing customer base.