GSM Operators, Banks Shun IXPN

Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators, MTN, Glo and Zain as well as all the banks in the country are yet interconnect their internet point to Internet Exchange point of Nigeria (IXPN) three after it was established Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can reveal.
All the GSM operators and banks locate their internet interconnect point outside the country incurring cost as all their traffic both local and foreign have to go round the world before coming back to Nigeria.
For instance, a mail sent from a bank’s network to another within the country travels round the world where the bank has its gateway before it comes back to its destination.
 It cost $5,000 per month to hoist gateway or interconnect point outside the country depending on the country and each content sent out to the interconnect point is charged.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigations showed that the companies were connected to the local exchange point; their local traffic will be sieved at the exchange resulting in savings of about 0.06 %.
Connecting internet traffic to an exchange point helps to speed the spread of the Internet in developing countries, reduce the cost of Internet connectivity and bandwidth.
An IXP interconnects Internet service providers (ISPs) in a region or country, allowing them to exchange domestic internet traffic locally without having to send those messages across multiple hops to reach their destination.