The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) says Nigeria’s low number of Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs) is weakening competition, increasing broadband costs, and limiting the growth of the country’s digital economy.
IXPN Chief Executive Officer, Mr Mohammed Rudman, stated this at a media capacity building training on Nigeria’s Digital Infrastructure Economy on Tuesday in Lagos.
The training was facilitated by The Media Training Room (TMTR) and Africa Hyperscalers.
Rudman explained that ASNs are critical to internet ecosystem maturity, as every network connected to the global internet must have a unique number that gives it routing autonomy and operational independence.
He likened ASNs to national and operator codes in telephony, noting that they enable networks to identify each other and exchange traffic efficiently without relying on a single service provider.
“Nigeria performs poorly on this indicator, with only one autonomous system number for every one million people, which is very low for a country of Nigeria’s size,” Rudman said.
According to him, countries like the United States have 91 ASNs per million people, Brazil has 43, and South Africa has 13—underscoring Nigeria’s limited network diversity.
Rudman said the African region also lags globally, noting that AFRINIC (Africa’s regional internet registry) has allocated only about 2,670 ASNs—the lowest among all five global regions.
He disclosed that in 2021 alone, AFRINIC allocated just 256 ASNs, compared with over 7,700 by APNIC in the Asia-Pacific region during the same period.
Rudman revealed that only nine Nigerian states have up to three ASNs, with Lagos leading at 171, followed by Abuja, Rivers, Oyo, Ogun, Kano, Osun, and Delta.
He said 15 states have no ASNs at all, leaving residents dependent solely on mobile network operators for internet access.
“If you go to a state such as Yobe or Gombe, with about three million people, there is no single Internet service provider apart from the mobile network operators,” he said.
Rudman attributed the situation to the dominance of mobile operators, noting that about 99.5 per cent of Nigerian internet users access the internet through mobile networks.
He said fixed broadband, wireless providers, and satellite services together account for less than one per cent of users, limiting competition and consumer choice nationwide.
Rudman also cited high operational costs, multiple regulatory approvals, and expensive transmission capacity as major barriers discouraging new internet service providers.
He said transmission capacity within Nigeria remains costly, noting that the cost between Ibadan and Lagos is higher than that between Lagos and London.
Rudman explained that technical skill gaps further worsen the challenge, as many institutions with public IP addresses and ASNs lack expertise to configure and route their own networks.
He said universities and public institutions often depend entirely on service providers, even when they possess the resources to operate independently.
Rudman added that the $2,000 cost of acquiring ASNs from AFRINIC discourages adoption, particularly in Africa’s low-scale ecosystem.
Speaking on Nigeria’s internet traffic localization, Rudman said the Internet Exchange Point provides physical infrastructure for networks to interconnect and exchange traffic locally.
He disclosed that domesticated traffic grew from about 0.1 per cent at inception to four gigabits per second by 2015, rose to 200 gigabits by 2020, and has since grown by 500 per cent.
“As of December last year, we reached two terabits of traffic, which is really, really good,” Rudman said.
He said about 60–70 per cent of Nigeria’s internet traffic is now domesticated, largely due to global content providers such as Google, Meta, TikTok, Microsoft, and Amazon connecting locally.
Rudman, however, noted that local content hosting remains weak, with Nigeria hosting only 22 per cent of the top 1,000 websites accessed by users, compared with Africa’s average of 34 per cent.
“Eighty per cent of those local websites, whether on .ng or .com, are not hosted locally,” he said.
Rudman said this explains why Nigeria’s traffic domestication is driven mainly by social media and foreign platforms rather than Nigerian-owned content.
He called for capacity building, IPv6 training, content localization, and collaboration with data centres to domesticate major Nigerian websites.
Rudman disclosed that IXPN and Africa Hyperscalers are working to onboard at least 100 new autonomous system numbers in Nigeria this year.
He urged the media to increase awareness, stressing that more ASNs would reduce broadband costs, boost internet penetration, and create jobs.
