Airtel Nigeria has announced plans to operate a new gateway connection via the 2Africa submarine cable from Kwa Ibo in Akwa Ibom State, located in the southern region of the country.
This new access point will complement the company’s existing infrastructure in Lagos, enhancing the resilience and capacity of Nigeria’s internet connectivity. The announcement was made last week by Airtel Nigeria’s Managing Director, Dinesh Balsingh.
Until now, a significant portion of Nigeria’s internet traffic has been routed through a single connection in Lagos, creating potential risks of network congestion and vulnerability to outages. The addition of a second exit point represents a move toward a more decentralised network architecture — aligning with the practices of advanced digital markets where redundancy is integral to maintaining high-quality service.
“Over the past two years, we have invested rigorously and strategically to strengthen our network nationwide,” said Balsingh. “These investments are now delivering measurable improvements in performance, customer experience, and coverage, including in underserved and hard-to-reach communities.”
This infrastructure upgrade comes amid rising data consumption driven by streaming services, cloud applications, and expanding mobile broadband capacity. According to the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria’s mobile data usage surged from 1 million terabytes in January 2025 to 1.4 million terabytes by December 2025, reflecting rapid growth in digital activity across the country.
By diversifying its international entry points, Airtel Nigeria aims to improve the stability and quality of its internet services. Although often unseen by end users, the international transit architecture plays a critical role in overall connectivity, serving as the backbone for data flow between Nigeria and global networks.
