Lagos came alive as tech giants gathered for the Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF 2025). The energy was electric with a clear mission.
Meta, Airtel Africa, IXPN, Digital Realty, Open Access Data Centres, and TeleGeography sat on one panel. Their goal: to unlock faster, more reliable content delivery for Nigerians.
The session, titled “Content at the Edge: Unlocking Faster and More Reliable Experiences”, followed a keynote by Meta’s Michelle Opiyo. She spotlighted Meta’s growing edge infrastructure across Africa.
Meta’s Ben Ryall laid it bare. “Nigeria is Africa’s largest country by population, and its youth are hungry for content.”
He described the split between enterprise demand and content-hungry youth as a goldmine. Local CDNs, he said, must tailor their strategies.
But Nigeria’s digital journey isn’t smooth. IXPN’s Muhammed Rudman recalled Netflix’s early doubts. “Back in 2007, they didn’t see the ROI.”
Today, subsea cables have brought traffic to Lagos. But outside the city, costs remain high. Bandwidth in Lagos can go for $1 per Mbps. In rural areas, it jumps to $30.
Digital Realty’s Ikechukwu Nnamani called it a Catch-22. “The market won’t mature without investment, but investors want to see maturity first.”
Rethinking Access and Infrastructure
Dr. Ayotunde Coker of Open Access Data Centres urged the industry to rethink pricing. He called for “sachet pricing”—daily or weekly data access to match Africa’s informal economy.
He added, “We’re building ecosystems where creators, carriers, and CDNs meet, not just renting out power and space.”
But infrastructure remains fragile. In just 18 months, Nigeria recorded 13,000 fibre cuts. MTN runs 25,000km of fibre. The government plans to expand that to 90,000km.
More fibre means more exposure. Rudman warned, “If your game downloads are only cached in Lagos, users in Kano will still suffer. We have to go inward.”
The Edge Must Expand
Meta is already acting. Beyond its Lagos Point of Presence (PoP), it’s building another in Port Harcourt to serve the South-South.
IXPN is also expanding. It’s urging mobile operators to peer beyond Lagos and deepen interconnection across Nigeria.
The session ended with a call for unity. Nnamani said, “This is more than fibre and data centres. This is about bringing content closer to the people.”
He added, “The hyperscalers, the platforms, the carriers, it’s time for all of us to step up together.”
Nigeria’s digital future won’t be built by one player alone. The edge must be conquered—together.
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