Internet disruption: A look into the role of the Ghana Internet Exchange

Ghana’s recent Internet disruption underscored the critical role of the Ghana Internet Exchange (GIX) in ensuring Internet stability. GIX plays a vital role in enhancing the efficiency, reliability, and performance of the internet, ultimately benefiting both service providers and end-users alike.

Organizations that exchanged traffic to the GIX were left less impacted as compared to those that did not connect at the GIX.
This episode highlighted the GIX’s importance as a robust platform for local internet traffic exchange.
Peering at the GIX offers several advantages:

Enhanced Redundancy: By peering with the GIX, institutions like MTN, Telecel, AT, and the likes of ISPs can exchange internet traffic locally thereby reducing the risk of any international interconnection.

Improved Efficiency: Peering facilitates direct traffic exchange within Ghana, bypassing international connections and reducing latency; the time it takes for data to travel.

Cost Savings: Peering at the GIX can potentially lead to lower international bandwidth costs compared to solely relying on international providers. Members can reduce their reliance on expensive long-distance links and transit providers.

Major Players already on board: The GIX boasts of partnerships with prominent content delivery networks (CDNs) like Meta (Facebook), Google, and Akamai. Netflix is also expected to go live at the GIX in a couple of weeks. This signifies the exchange’s role as a central hub for internet traffic within Ghana.