IXPN, TeleAfrica Push Digital Sovereignty Agenda as Nigeria Battles Hosting Deficit

Nigeria’s ambition to become Africa’s leading digital economy is facing a significant infrastructure challenge, with only 22 percent of the country’s top 1,000 most-visited websites hosted locally and nearly 80 percent of .ng domains residing on foreign servers.

These concerns dominated discussions at the BGP Peering Workshop 2026, jointly hosted by the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) and TeleAfrica Communications Limited in Abuja, where industry stakeholders explored strategies for strengthening internet infrastructure, expanding local hosting capacity, and improving network resilience.

The workshop brought together telecommunications operators, network engineers, internet service providers, and policymakers to address what experts described as critical bottlenecks limiting Nigeria’s digital transformation and internet sovereignty.

Nigeria’s Hosting Gap and ASN Deficit

Speaking at the event, IXPN Managing Director, Muhammed Rudman, highlighted the country’s low level of internet infrastructure development compared to global peers.

According to him, Nigeria currently has only one Autonomous System Number (ASN) per million inhabitants, significantly behind South Africa’s 13 ASNs per million and Brazil’s 43.

ASNs serve as unique identifiers for networks on the global internet and are critical for efficient routing, network independence, and internet resilience.

The situation is compounded by the fact that 15 Nigerian states currently lack an independent network presence, creating connectivity disparities across regions and limiting the spread of digital services.

“The more local networks we have participating in the internet ecosystem, the more resilient, efficient and cost-effective our digital economy becomes,” Rudman said.

Why Local Traffic Matters

At the heart of IXPN’s mission is the principle of keeping local internet traffic within Nigeria rather than routing it through international networks.

This approach reduces latency, improves user experience, lowers bandwidth costs, and enhances data security.

According to Rudman, local traffic exchange has become increasingly important as sectors such as fintech, edtech, e-commerce, cloud services, and digital media continue to expand.

“By keeping local traffic local, IXPN is building the foundation for a faster, more connected and sovereign Nigeria,” he stated.

To support growing demand, IXPN plans to expand into underserved regions, deploy advanced switching infrastructure capable of handling multi-terabit traffic through 400G ports, and attract more content delivery networks and cloud providers to establish local presence in Nigeria.

TeleAfrica’s Infrastructure Play

Also speaking at the workshop, Chairman of TeleAfrica Communications, Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani, underscored the role of interconnect infrastructure in building a sustainable digital ecosystem.

He highlighted TeleAfrica’s ABV1 Datacenter in Abuja, which serves as a strategic interconnection hub linking telecommunications traffic between northern and southern Nigeria.

Beyond traditional traffic exchange, Nnamani noted that TeleAfrica’s clearinghouse platform provides comprehensive settlement and reconciliation services for interconnect traffic.

Industry observers believe this model could help address one of the telecom sector’s recurring challenges—interconnect debt—while improving transparency and operational efficiency.

“While many interconnect providers focus primarily on call transit, our model integrates financial settlement and reconciliation, ensuring accurate and timely processing of interconnect charges,” Nnamani explained.

Building Technical Capacity Through BGP Training

Beyond policy discussions, the second day of the workshop focused on technical skills development.

Participants received hands-on training on Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), the routing protocol that underpins the global internet and enables autonomous networks to exchange traffic efficiently.

The session, led by network specialist Mahdi Tajuddeen, covered ASN deployment, eBGP and iBGP architectures, routing policy design, path selection mechanisms, and traffic engineering techniques.

For many participants, the practical component was particularly valuable given the growing complexity of internet infrastructure management.

Chukwudi Philip, an IT Specialist and Network Engineer representing IMBIL Telecom Solutions, described the training as both relevant and impactful.

“The technical depth of the BGP session reinforced the critical role routing policies play in ensuring efficient internet connectivity, scalability, and network stability,” he said.

The Bigger Picture

The discussions in Abuja reflect a broader challenge confronting Nigeria’s digital economy: how to retain more internet traffic, content, and value within its borders.

As demand for cloud services, artificial intelligence, digital payments, streaming platforms, and online education continues to grow, experts argue that stronger peering arrangements, greater local hosting capacity, and expanded network infrastructure will be essential to reducing dependence on foreign internet resources.

For Nigeria, achieving digital sovereignty may ultimately depend not only on policy ambitions but on building the infrastructure capable of supporting a truly local internet ecosystem.