- GIXA operates Ghana’s national internet exchange facility to reduce costs and boost local performance.
- The exchange enables ISPs to route traffic locally, bypassing expensive international bandwidth.
Ghana Internet Exchange Association: Operating Ghana’s traffic exchange hub
The Ghana Internet Exchange Association (GIXA) is a non-profit technical body that operates the Ghana Internet Exchange (GIX). Launched in October 2005, GIXA was formed through the leadership of the Ghana Internet Service Providers Association (GISPA) and a coalition of public and private stakeholders. The exchange point is physically located at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT.
The GIX enables local ISPs, network operators, and carriers to exchange traffic locally, bypassing international transit routes. This reduces bandwidth costs and improves service speeds for end users. It is open to all operators regardless of GISPA membership, offering a neutral, shared routing infrastructure.
GIXA uses a route reflector model to manage traffic interconnection. This setup facilitates dynamic traffic routing and allows seamless peering between diverse networks. Over time, the exchange has grown into a backbone for national-level routing in Ghana’s internet landscape.
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Ghana Internet Exchange Association: Addressing bandwidth and routing inefficiencies
Before the establishment of GIX, most Ghanaian ISPs relied on costly international connections—via VSAT or fibre—even for traffic meant to stay within Ghana. This practice inflated operating costs and slowed user experience. GIXA’s model changes that by keeping local data local.
The GIXA ecosystem includes leading ISPs like MTN, Vodafone, Comsys, and Internet Solutions, and benefits from the support of entities such as Ghana’s Ministry of Communications, National Communications Authority (NCA), and international groups like Packet Clearing House and AfrISPA.
GIXA also supports capacity-building through training and community engagement. In previous updates, GISPA elected new leadership to strengthen coordination between ISPs and enhance policy advocacy. The association continues to expand technical awareness and promote resilient, low-latency internet infrastructure across Ghana.
As a result, Ghanaian operators benefit from lower operational costs, faster data routing, and enhanced independence from global upstream providers.
