The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) has established a direct link with Ghana's internet exchange point, facilitating local exchange of internet traffic.

Mohammed Rudman, MD of IXPN said, "The linking of Nigeria internet exchange with Ghana's internet exchange will save the two countries foreign exchange and cost as internet traffic between internet service providers (in the two countries) will be exchanged within the region as against the previous situation when such traffic will have to go to Europe before coming back to the region."

He said the development is in line with IXPN's vision to be Africa's leading IXP and a one-stop company to service content providers.

Submarine cable fibre, deployed by Dolphin Telecoms, was used to establish the connection. Furthermore, Medallion Data centre will be the Nigerian host for the designated server, while Ghana's National Information Technology Agency's data centre will be Ghana's server host.

Ike Nnamani, Medallion Data Centre's CEO, said the initiative will reduce latency between the two countries; he added it will ensure that African content is kept locally.

"We expect in near future for other internet exchange points in the sub-region to be linked so that we can keep the regional traffic within the region without it having to travel to Europe before coming to its destination in the region. Such interconnection will help our educational institutions in sharing of information as most of them are connected to their countries internet exchange point."