Telecom
ADC Partners London Internet Exchange for East Africa Interconnection Hub
Africa Data Centres, a business of Cassava Technologies group, is pleased to announce that the London Internet Exchange (LINX) has brought them on board as a full point of presence (PoP) for the new East African interconnection hub, LINX Nairobi.
The announcement follows news of a strategic partnership last month between the two organisations, to ensure growth and opportunities across new markets in Africa, to enhance connectivity, and bring digital services to citizens.
LINX Nairobi is set to go live in the coming weeks and is the region’s first interconnected, multi-site Internet Exchange Point (IXP). The technical specification of the platform mirrors LINX’s designs in the UK and the US, offering redundancy and resilience for networks peering there.
Kenya is in a unique position to serve the entire East Africa region with its fast-growing fibre connectivity, through the well-connected submarine cable network that has pathways to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
With this announcement, customers at the Africa Data Centre’s NBO1 facility in Nairobi will have direct access to the new LINX Nairobi peering community in Kenya via a single cross-connect and will also benefit from additional services such as LINX’s around-the-clock, on-call support and portal access.
In addition, networks that connect to LINX Nairobi from any of the data centre locations will be able to set up peering arrangements with each other, building a strong digital ecosystem in the area and encouraging traffic to be kept local.
Nurani Nimpuno, Head of Global Engagement for LINX comments; “With LINX Nairobi, we are not only creating a hub for Kenya, but for all of East Africa. The rapidly growing region has a huge demand for low latency, high-speed, improved interconnectivity. LINX Nairobi will not only serve local networks, but also attract international Internet providers and hyperscalers.”
“ADC has already grown an impressive portfolio of networks at its Nairobi data centre, so it makes absolute sense for LINX to work with ADC. LINX Nairobi will enable connections for all networks collocated at ADC and we welcome them into the new LINX Nairobi ecosystem.”
Tesh Durvasula, CEO of Africa Data Centres adds: “By adding the LINX PoP in our NBO1 facility, we are able to better support our customers with an even greater variety of interconnection options than we have today.”
He says Africa Data Centres partnership with LINX highlights the company’s strong growth and momentum. “We are very pleased to be working together to further enhance our ecosystem to create more interconnection and peering options to strengthen our ecosystem.”
According to Durvasula, most modern businesses have adopted a hybrid model of private and public clouds for their workloads. “As a result, there is a substantial amount of network traffic flowing between data centres, cloud providers, customers making use of cloud services, and ultimately, end-users.”
This could present a significant challenge for entities that operate these hybrid environments, as often the available connectivity fails to provide the necessary speed and reliability to handle such high volumes of traffic.
“Having an effective interconnection strategy in place is critical for businesses across the globe as it ensures the efficient distribution of workloads throughout the entire infrastructure, fueling an integrated and resilient network. This PoP is just one more way in which Africa Data Centres is helping businesses across Africa connect to the rest of the world while keeping their data within their own borders,” Durvasula ends
Nigeria has exactly 156,662 active fixed wired internet subscriptions as of mid-2026.
This is a tiny fraction compared to mobile GSM networks, which dominate the market with over 154 million subscribers.
The fixed wired market primarily consists of homes and offices using direct physical cables like fiber optics.
Fixed wired services use physical cables, like glass fiber or copper wire, to bring internet directly into a building.
It is like a dedicated, private water pipe for your home. It provides very fast speeds, unlimited data, and is reliable.
In contrast, mobile GSM uses radio waves transmitted from tall towers to phones, acting more like a sprinkler that sprays a signal across an entire neighborhood.
Because laying physical cables across cities is expensive and hard to do, these subscriptions are very rare.
However, the market has seen recent growth, driven largely by Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) services.
The top players are: MTN FibreX with 110,564 subscribers, which is roughly 88.7 per cent of the entire market.
SWIFTNG accounts for about 13,945 connections.
The others are ipNX and 21st Century Technologies which make up the number.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it is intensifying efforts to implement Nigeria’s planned 112 national emergency number following its approval by the National Economic Council (NEC).
NCC
The commission disclosed this during a meeting between Vice President Kashim Shettima and an NCC delegation led by the Chairman of its Governing Board, Chief Idris Ibikunle Olorunnimbe, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Briefing the Vice President, Olorunnimbe said the NCC had already established about 35 Emergency Communications Centres (ECCs) across the country to support a unified national emergency response system.
He said the next phase of implementation would focus on closer collaboration with state governments and emergency response agencies to ensure the effective rollout of the initiative.
The development follows the recent approval by the NEC, chaired by the Vice President, for the adoption of 112 as Nigeria’s single national emergency number across all tiers of government and emergency response agencies.
The council also approved the establishment of a multi-agency implementation committee to be jointly coordinated by the Office of the Vice President and the NCC.
Olorunnimbe stressed that the success of the initiative would depend on the commitment of state governments to support and maintain emergency communications infrastructure, as well as the readiness of response agencies to promptly attend to distress calls.
“We need commitment at every level of all response agencies—from top to bottom—including the Nigeria Police Force, ambulance services across the states and, at the national level, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA),” he said.
Responding, Shettima directed the NCC to develop a comprehensive roadmap for the nationwide implementation of the single emergency number in line with international best practices.
He also urged the commission to work closely with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), citing the agency’s experience in disaster management, relief and rehabilitation.
The Vice President assured the commission of the Federal Government’s commitment to sustaining the initiative, saying funding would be mobilised through the National Economic Council and partnerships with the private sector.
He also called for greater dedication from all emergency response agencies to ensure the success of the programme.
The adoption of 112 is expected to harmonise emergency communications across Nigeria by providing a single number through which citizens can quickly access police, fire, ambulance and other emergency services.
The initiative is also expected to replace multiple emergency contact numbers currently in use and improve coordination and response during emergencies.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that it was strengthening collaboration with state governments and industry players to develop a transparent, cost-based pricing framework for sharing telecom ducts as part of efforts to speed up broadband expansion across Nigeria.
Ayuba Shuaibu, director of Policy, Competition and Economic Analysis, NCC, disclosed this at the Stakeholders’ Forum in Abuja.
Shuaibu said the initiative was designed to build consensus among all parties.
“The primary purpose of this forum is to ensure seamless synergy between the Commission and all stakeholders,” he said.
The director said the consultation was prompted by longstanding complaints over permits, levies and other charges imposed by different levels of government.
He said bringing together state commissioners, telecom operators, tower companies and representatives of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum had helped improve understanding of the issues.
“This engagement is a work in progress. We expect more input from stakeholders before presenting the outcome to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum,” he added.
Dr Helen Adeneye, commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Kogi State. welcomed the consultation, saying Nigeria needs a harmonised policy that clearly defines the responsibilities of both the federal and state governments.
“We need a harmonised policy that allows states to collaborate better with telecom operators and creates a more business-friendly environment,” she said.
Dr Adeneye added that adopting the Dig-Once policy would establish a uniform pricing system and help resolve disputes over charges for telecom infrastructure deployment.
Chidi Ajuzie, chief executive officer, WTES Projects Limited, whose firm is conducting the consultancy study, said the proposed framework would introduce a common cost structure for duct sharing to support broadband investment and economic growth.
“The study is designed to create a uniform pricing model that will drive broadband growth, economic development and wider adoption across the country,” he said.
Ajuzie explained that the consultants had developed preliminary floor and ceiling prices to guide operators while allowing flexibility within the approved range.
He added that the recommendations remain open to industry input before the NCC finalises the framework.
The Dig-Once Policy is designed to reduce the cost and disruption of deploying broadband infrastructure by requiring fibre ducts to be installed whenever roads are constructed or rehabilitated.
The NCC is developing a cost-based pricing framework for sharing these ducts to promote fair pricing, reduce duplication of infrastructure and encourage investment.
The proposed model is expected to support the Federal Government’s broadband expansion targets while improving collaboration between telecom operators and state governments.
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