The London Internet Exchange has announced that its new interconnection hub in Ghana is officially ready for operation, marking the company’s first footprint in West Africa and a major milestone in advancing digital connectivity and internet performance across the region.
The newly launched Accra hub forms part of LINX’s broader strategy to expand interconnection services and digital infrastructure across Africa. Technical installation has been completed at two key data centres, Onix and PAIX, which together form the foundation of the first phase of the project. It’s a development that positions Ghana as a potential digital gateway for the entire West African sub region.
The LINX fabric interconnects both data centres using redundant fibre routes, allowing networks to exchange traffic through peering, a method that offers faster, more cost efficient, and low latency routing. With over three decades of experience in global interconnection, LINX aims to bring world class technical standards and resilience to Ghana’s growing digital ecosystem.
Jennifer Holmes, CEO of LINX, said the launch represents a significant step forward in Africa’s digital evolution. “The launch of LINX Accra is a major step forward in our commitment to supporting digital transformation across Africa. By enabling local traffic exchange, and connecting Onix and PAIX via our fabric, we’re helping to build a stronger, more resilient and higher performing internet ecosystem in the region.”
But what does that actually mean for ordinary internet users in Ghana? Currently, when someone in Accra visits a website hosted by a Ghanaian company, their data often travels overseas through international links before coming back to Ghana. It’s like mailing a letter to your neighbour by sending it to London first. LINX Accra will enable local traffic to stay local, reducing latency, improving speeds, and cutting costs for internet service providers who can then pass those savings to consumers.
LINX Accra will serve as a neutral, future proof platform for Internet Service Providers, content providers, cloud services, and enterprises to exchange data locally, reducing dependency on international links and improving user experience for millions of internet users. A third interconnection point is expected to be added in the coming weeks when the new Digital Realty data centre in Accra launches, expanding the LINX Accra platform to three access sites.
Nurani Nimpuno, Head of Global Engagement for LINX, emphasised the importance of partnerships in delivering successful interconnection projects. “We are lucky to have such engaged data centre partners here in Ghana. When building IXPs in new geographics, collaboration is key. Our data centre partners are a key part of our business case when building in new locations and success is very much a team effort,” she said during the launch week in Accra.
The timing of LINX’s entry into Ghana reflects broader trends in African internet infrastructure development. Ghana has six subsea cable systems making it one of the most internationally connected countries in Africa, providing substantial international bandwidth capacity. But international connectivity alone doesn’t solve the problem of local traffic exchange, which is where internet exchange points like LINX Accra become critical.
Think of it this way: Ghana has excellent highways connecting it to other countries, but without good local roads, residents in the same city still struggle to reach each other efficiently. LINX Accra is building those local roads for internet traffic, creating infrastructure that makes the domestic digital economy function more smoothly.
The launch of LINX Accra is seen as a critical step toward strengthening Ghana’s position as a digital hub for West Africa, enabling faster and more reliable local internet exchange, attracting investment, and enhancing the overall efficiency of the region’s internet infrastructure. It’s also likely to reduce costs for businesses that currently pay premium prices for international bandwidth when they could be exchanging traffic locally.
For content providers like video streaming services, news websites, and social media platforms with Ghanaian users, having a local exchange point means they can cache content closer to end users, dramatically improving load times and user experience. For cloud service providers, it means lower latency connections to customers in Ghana and neighbouring countries.
With the platform now live and open for peering, LINX’s entry into Ghana signals a new era of connectivity for the region, one defined by innovation, resilience, and local empowerment in the digital economy. But success isn’t guaranteed just because the infrastructure exists. The real test will be adoption rates among local ISPs, content providers, and enterprises who need to see clear business cases for connecting to the exchange.
LINX’s track record matters here. The company has operated exchange points in London for over 30 years and has expanded into other markets including Nairobi, where it launched in late 2023. That East African experience likely informed their approach to Ghana, understanding the importance of working with local partners and building trust within the domestic internet community.
The neutral nature of the exchange is particularly important. LINX isn’t owned by any single ISP or telecommunications company, which means all participants can peer with each other on equal terms without favouring any particular network. This neutrality encourages participation and helps build the kind of interconnected ecosystem that benefits everyone.
What makes this development significant beyond just technical specifications is its potential multiplier effect. When internet costs decrease and performance improves, it enables new digital services and business models that weren’t previously viable. Ghanaian tech startups can compete more effectively. Educational institutions can deliver online content more reliably. Healthcare providers can implement telemedicine solutions without worrying about excessive latency.
The expansion to three sites once Digital Realty’s facility comes online will add further resilience to the platform. If one data centre experiences issues, traffic can automatically reroute through the other locations, maintaining service continuity. It’s the kind of redundancy that enterprise customers demand and that helps position Ghana as a reliable location for regional digital operations.
For Ghana’s broader digital transformation agenda, LINX Accra represents the kind of foundational infrastructure investment that doesn’t always make headlines but fundamentally changes what’s possible. It won’t directly create jobs the way a new factory might, but it creates the conditions under which digital businesses can thrive, scale, and ultimately employ thousands of people in technology and related sectors.
As West Africa’s internet usage continues growing rapidly, infrastructure like LINX Accra will become increasingly important for ensuring that growth translates to genuine improvements in service quality rather than just congestion and frustration. The hub is now operational, partners are connected, and the platform is open for business. What happens next depends on how quickly Ghana’s internet community embraces the opportunities it provides.
Source: newsghana.com.gh
