Muhammed Rudman, Managing Director of the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), has underscored the urgent need for Nigeria to strengthen its local traffic exchange ecosystem, describing it as a strategic national imperative for speed, security, and digital economic expansion.

Speaking during a presentation at the African Tech Alliance (AfriTECH) 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.”

Nigeria’s telecommunications industry cut 383 jobs between 2023 and 2024 as operators struggled under surging operating expenses, shrinking subscriber numbers and persistent regulatory pressures, according to newly released Year-End Performance Reports from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The total workforce across licensed operators fell from 17,882 in 2023 to 17,499 in 2024, reflecting widespread downsizing across major market segments.

The workforce reduction came in a year when operators’ operating expenses spiked from N3.16 trillion in 2023 to N5.85 trillion in 2024—an 85.35 per cent increase.

The NCC attributed the surge to skyrocketing energy costs, inflation, foreign exchange instability and persistent multiple taxation by state and local authorities.

“Most licensees complained of high Right of Way (RoW) fees, harsh microeconomic operating environments and rising inflation,” the NCC noted in its report.

A breakdown of employment figures shows that GSM operators were the hardest hit, reducing staff strength from 7,212 to 6,658. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) also downsized, cutting their workforce from 5,589 to 5,473, while Value-Added Service (VAS) operators shed 100 jobs—from 813 to 713. Fixed-line operators, however, saw a slight workforce increase, rising from 268 to 272.

Two market segments recorded notable job gains. Collocation and infrastructure-sharing providers expanded from 1,574 workers to 1,751, while the “Others” category rose from 2,426 to 2,632. These gains, however, were not enough to offset the broader sector decline.

The job cuts coincided with a dramatic fall in active voice subscriptions following the enforcement of the National Identification Number (NIN)-SIM linkage policy.

Active subscriptions dropped from 224.7 million in 2023 to 164.9 million in 2024—a decline of 26.61 per cent.

T2, telecommunications operator, has  raised the alarm over what it described as a surge of deliberate misinformation circulating online about its operational structure and its relationship with IHS Towers.

The company said it had become necessary to address the matter publicly following the activities of what it called “pseudo-analysts operating without any credible industry knowledge, grossly misrepresenting how telecommunications networks function and deliberately distorting the facts for attention and engagement,” it noted.

T2 stressed that, contrary to narratives trending across social media platforms, its service delivery model is not dependent on IHS infrastructure.

It explained that commentators pushing such claims were either ignoring or entirely unaware of the fundamental workings of National Roaming, a framework approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that allows operators to seamlessly leverage partner networks to ensure complete coverage without reliance on their own base stations.

The firm described insinuations that it faces operational risks or any threat of service disruption owing to IHS-related developments as technically false, uninformed, and recklessly misleading.

Just as such commentary “creates a false impression of instability, misleading the public and mischaracterising industry dynamics.”

According to the telecom operator, the persistent spread of such narratives indicated something beyond ignorance.

“It is evident that these distortions go beyond mere misunderstanding. The consistent inaccuracies and sensationalist framing suggest malicious intent, aiming to sow confusion rather than provide genuine analysis.

“Self-proclaimed analysts should be held to a standard of accuracy, yet they’re publishing content without grasping telecom operations, National Roaming, or infrastructure sharing implications,” it said.

Meanwhile, T2 maintained that it “rejects these misrepresentations in their entirety, with its operations remaining fully stable, fully supported, and entirely aligned with established industry models.”

It added “The attempt to link T2’s operational integrity to IHS-related narratives is nothing more than manufactured disinformation.”

Additionally, the operator urged subscribers and the general public to disregard false claims and rely solely on verified information.

“We urge the public and our stakeholders to disregard these false claims and rely exclusively on official communication from T2 or recognised industry authorities,” the firm noted. At the same time, reaffirming its commitment to transparency and accurate, technically verified information.

The mobile firm, reiterating its long-term ambition, said, “It remained committed to its vision of being a leading digital lifestyle partner, delivering world-class connectivity that empowers Nigerians to achieve their ambitions”