Subsea cables and data centres are multiplying, but weak local peering, fragmented regulation and expensive cross-connects mean that too much African internet traffic still leaves the continent before reaching users next door.

Africa has attracted billions of dollars into submarine cables, data centres, fibre networks and mobile infrastructure. Yet an internet user in one African country may still send traffic through Europe to reach a service or another user in a neighbouring country.

The route is technically functional, but economically inefficient. It increases latency, consumes international capacity and sends money that could support Africa’s domestic internet ecosystem to foreign transit providers.

This problem was at the centre of a panel discussion at Hyperscalers Convergence Africa 2026 featuring Muhammed Rudman, Chief Executive Officer, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria; Abibat Kazeem, Commercial Director, Bayobab Nigeria; Dr Fiona Asonga, Chief Executive Officer, Technology Service Providers Association of Kenya; Alma Nurshaikhova, Senior Digital Specialist, World Bank; Marco Rebecchi, Nokia’s Country Manager for Nigeria and Ghana; and Salewa Oyagbola, Associate Director, IHS Towers. According to the panel, landing more cables on African shores will not be enough. The continent must improve the infrastructure, commercial incentives and regulatory arrangements that determine where its internet traffic travels after those cables land.

Why operators send traffic abroad

Rudman said some of Africa’s largest telecommunications operators have little commercial incentive to exchange more traffic locally because they already control or have access to excess international capacity.

“Major providers across Africa that own substantial submarine-cable capacity may see little incentive to localise traffic when they already have spare international capacity,” he said.

The result is a form of internet “tromboning”, in which traffic between users or networks in the same country – or even the same city – is routed through an international hub before returning.

Internet exchange points offer an alternative. An IXP provides a neutral location where internet service providers, mobile operators, content platforms, cloud companies, financial institutions and other networks can exchange traffic directly. Local peering shortens the distance travelled by data, improves service quality and reduces the amount operators spend on international transit.

The impact can be significant. The expansion of IXPs in Kenya and Nigeria helped reduce latency from approximately 200–600 milliseconds to between two and ten milliseconds, while generating millions of dollars in annual international-connectivity savings, according to the Internet Society. Nigeria’s domestic internet ecosystem has grown considerably. The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria is on its way to three terabits per second in aggregate peak domestic traffic, illustrating the scale of content and services that can now be exchanged locally. 

Unfortunately, progress in a handful of leading markets disguises a fragmented continental picture.

Not all exchange points are equal

Rudman said African IXPs vary widely in their maturity, traffic volumes and governance.

Some operate as neutral, industry-led, non-profit organisations. Others are controlled by governments or incumbent telecommunications operators. That distinction affects whether competing networks trust the exchange sufficiently to connect and share traffic.

Where an incumbent operator controls both the exchange point and international capacity, it may have little reason to support local peering that reduces demand for its international transit services.

“If an incumbent already owns international submarine capacity, it may have little incentive to encourage local or regional peering,” Rudman said. “The operating model therefore matters.”

An IXP does not become valuable simply because its equipment has been installed. It needs active participation from the networks that generate and carry traffic.

Mobile operators must peer. Government platforms must host services locally. Banks and fintech companies must connect. Content delivery networks and global cloud providers must place caches and infrastructure close to users. Data centres must provide affordable, neutral interconnection.

Without that participation, an exchange point can exist while carrying little meaningful traffic.

The Internet Society says 42% of African countries still lack an IXP, meaning that much of their domestic traffic must be exchanged outside their borders. 

Data centres face their own incentive problem

Africa’s expanding data centre market should make it easier to host content and cloud services locally. However, the economics of connecting networks within those facilities can create another barrier.

Rudman warned that cross-connect charges—the fees paid to establish a physical link between customers inside a data centre – have risen in some markets when they should be declining as facilities achieve scale.

“In terms of data centres, because it is a huge investment, I would encourage them to provide cross-connects at a more reasonable rate,” he said. “The rate of cross-connects from the earlier days until now has increased instead of dropping.”

High charges can discourage smaller internet service providers, local content businesses, start-ups and public institutions from joining interconnection ecosystems. The data centre may host networks and cloud platforms under one roof, but those participants still need affordable links to exchange traffic.

This creates a tension for data centre operators. Cross-connects can be an important source of recurring revenue, but excessive pricing can weaken the broader ecosystem that makes a facility attractive.

A successful interconnection hub depends on network effects: each additional operator, cloud provider, bank, content platform or government service increases the facility’s value to every other participant. IXPN’s success today would not have been possible without substantial support from Nigerian data centre operators, including Rack Centre, Digital Realty and Open Access Data Centres.

Data centres must therefore balance short-term cross-connect revenue against the longer-term value created by a deeper and more diverse interconnection community.

Government as an anchor customer

Government could play a central role in strengthening this community. Rudman proposed that public institutions serve as anchor tenants in domestic data centres by hosting government platforms locally and connecting them to national internet exchange points.

This would create predictable demand while ensuring that citizens do not have to access servers outside their country to use tax, identification, education, healthcare and other public services.

The proposal is especially relevant as African governments expand digital public infrastructure and place greater emphasis on data sovereignty. Locally hosted identity, payment and data exchange platforms could generate substantial domestic traffic, helping internet exchange points and data centres achieve scale.

West and Central African governments have already committed to developing regional IXPs and hosting at least 40% of critical government data in regional data centres under the 2025 Cotonou Declaration.

Implementation will be more difficult than making the commitment. 

Government technology contracts frequently favour foreign hosting arrangements, while procurement rules may not account for latency, data sovereignty, resilience or the wider economic value of local hosting.

Public agencies may also be unwilling to move critical systems into shared facilities unless governments strengthen cybersecurity, data protection and cloud-assurance frameworks.

Cross-border regulation remains fragmented

National traffic localisation is only part of the challenge. Africa also needs stronger regional interconnection.

Asonga said regulators have not sufficiently harmonised the rules governing cross-border infrastructure. Service providers face different licences, rights-of-way regimes, technical requirements and approval processes as networks move from one country to another.

“African regulators need shared guidelines and a common commitment to keep traffic local and interconnect within Africa,” she said.

She described “no man’s land” at national borders, where infrastructure from one country may stop before connecting seamlessly with the network on the other side.

The absence of regional terrestrial links means countries can have substantial international submarine capacity but weak connectivity with their neighbours.

Rudman pointed to the original design of the SAT-3 submarine cable system, which was built primarily to carry African traffic to Europe rather than connect African markets with one another.

Newer cable systems offer more regional capacity, but their architecture still reflects expectations that much of the continent’s internet demand will be directed offshore.

Nurshaikhova said closing the regional middle-mile gap requires more than capital. Projects must combine clear regulation, viable demand, security and credible implementation structures.

She cited Nigeria’s proposed 90,000km BRIDGE fibre network and the World Bank-backed West Africa Regional Digital Integration Project as examples of initiatives intended to combine infrastructure deployment with open access and regulatory cooperation.

Development finance institutions can use blended finance and guarantees to attract private investors, she said, but governments must first create projects capable of generating sustainable demand.

From cable landings to digital markets

Africa’s next infrastructure priority should therefore extend beyond the number of cables landed, towers built or data centres opened.

Governments and regulators should measure how much domestic traffic is exchanged locally, how many networks connect to national IXPs, the cost of cross-connects, the share of public services hosted in-country and the availability of direct routes to neighbouring markets.

Operators should also be encouraged – but not forced through rigid localisation rules – to peer locally where technically and commercially appropriate. Heavy-handed data-localisation mandates risk raising costs or reducing access to global services. The goal should be to make local hosting and peering the most efficient option.

Data centres can support that transition by offering affordable interconnection, transparent pricing and neutral access. Governments can contribute public-sector demand. Development institutions can finance regional middle-mile networks, while regulators align cross-border rules.

IXPN has committed to offering waivers and discounts, including up to one year of free connectivity, to African internet service providers seeking to connect in Nigeria.

That kind of incentive recognises that infrastructure alone does not create an ecosystem. Networks must have a commercial reason to participate.

Africa has more international capacity than at any point in its history. The next task is ensuring that African data does not travel thousands of unnecessary kilometres before reaching a user next door.