Just imagine a country that has built a six-lane superhighway which is very smooth, fast, and fully functional at a high cost, yet only a handful of cars use it; this is Ghana’s digital story today, according to IMANI Africa.
The think tank is revealing that, despite having world-class internet infrastructure, data costs remain stubbornly high. This is because the country’s “digital roads”, technically known as the Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), are practically empty.
What Exactly Are Internet Exchange Points?
An Internet Exchange Point, or IXP, is like a big roundabout for the internet. Instead of every network building its own road to reach others, which is expensive and slow, all the networks meet at this central point to exchange traffic directly.
In simple terms, if you’re using MTN and your friend is on Telecel, an IXP allows your messages, videos, or data to move directly between your two networks, within Ghana, instead of taking a long detour through Europe or elsewhere before returning home.
This, the experts say, makes local connections faster, cheaper, and more reliable.
Ghana Already Has the Solution
Ghana actually has two of these digital roundabouts, which are the Ghana Internet Exchange (GIXA) and the newer, ultra-modern Accra Internet Exchange (AccraIX).
IMANI’s latest policy brief reveals that GIXA has been around for years, connecting 23 key players, including Google and all major telecom operators. Its importance was proven during the subsea cable cuts in March 2024, when Ghana stayed partially connected because of GIXA.
Then there’s AccraIX. It’s world-class, with 21 top-tier members such as MTN, Telecel, Meta (Facebook), and Fastly. It can handle a whopping 515 Gigabits per second (Gbps) of data, significantly exceeding what the country needs.
Yet, here’s the twist. IMANI says only 41.12 Megabits per second (Mbps) is being used. That’s less than 0.01% of its capacity. In essence, the think tank maintains that Ghana has built a digital superhighway, but almost no one is driving on it.
“Despite this immense capacity, the observed peak traffic on this superhighway is a mere 41.12 Megabits per second (Mbps), a utilization rate of less than 0.01% (LINX, 2025). We have built a state-of-the-art digital interchange, but almost no one is using it. This is not a technical failure; it is a market failure,” IMANI argued.
Why the Highway Is Empty
According to IMANI, the problem isn’t with the technology. It’s with the market behavior, especially the peering policies of dominant players.
MTN, which controls over 70% of Ghana’s mobile services market, operates under what’s called a selective peering policy. This means that even though MTN is connected to the same internet exchange as everyone else, it chooses who can “connect” directly to it.
So instead of allowing smaller internet service providers (ISPs) to exchange traffic freely, which would make the internet cheaper and faster for everyone, MTN can force them to go through costly international routes.
It’s like having a roundabout where one driver blocks the lane and tells everyone else, “You can only pass if you pay me first.”
“The primary reason for this is found in the peering policies of the market’s most dominant players. Scancom (MTN), which controls an estimated +70% of the mobile services market, maintains a “Selective” peering policy at AccraIX. In simple terms, despite being physically connected to the same digital roundabout as everyone else, the dominant operator reserves the right to close its on-ramps to competitors,” IMANI alleged.
It added that “Instead of exchanging traffic freely for mutual benefit, it can force smaller ISPs to pay for access to its vast customer base through international detours, effectively monetizing its market dominance and perpetuating the costly international detours.”
The Cost to Ghanaians
Because most of Ghana’s online traffic takes unnecessary international detours, we pay more for data. Every megabyte you use has to travel further, pass through more tolls, and return home, all of which adds to your bill.
It also slows things down. That delay you experience when streaming, downloading, or even making a video call isn’t just a bad network; it’s poor routing.
Beyond higher prices, Ghana is losing the chance to build a thriving local digital economy.
When hosting data and apps locally is too expensive or unreliable, businesses move their servers abroad. That means fewer local tech jobs, higher hosting costs, and a weaker ecosystem.
In effect, Ghana’s internet economy is being outsourced, even though the infrastructure to keep it home already exists.
The Bottomline
IMANI argues that the solution lies in enforcing open peering policies and ensuring fair access to the IXPs.
To them, once major players share traffic freely, costs will drop, local hosting will thrive, and Ghana’s digital economy will finally move at full speed.
