Over 1bn Minutes Recorded: Celebrating History In Nigeria’s Telecommunications Exchange Carriers

Taking a significant leap forward in voice communication technology, World Telecom Labs (WTL) unveiled today that its second generation Voice over IP (VoIP) communication devices in Nigeria have seen more than a billion minutes of call time. These impressive figures come via the specialist switches deployed by five of Nigeria’s leading interconnect exchange carriers.

In order to commemorate this historical milestone, a special ceremony is being convened. The event, scheduled during the highly anticipated annual NigeriaCom telecoms conference and exhibition, will see each of the five carriers receive a trophy to mark this innovative accomplishment.

The honored carriers, which include Breeze Micro, Exchange, ICN, Niconnx, and Solid, were licensed by the influential Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to stimulate competition and elevate transparency in the evolving Nigerian telecom market. A regulation has now been put in place whereby the four principal mobile operators in Nigeria are obliged to reroute 10% of their inter-carrier voice and SMS traffic to one of these licensed operators.

The five awardees started offering their services towards the end of last year, initially operating as wholesale interconnect carriers for Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) voice traffic. They employ WTL’s superior switches to effortlessly shift traffic amongst the four existing mobile networks. Also, they receive assistance from WTL in strengthening their billing systems and optimizing voice traffic, a move that increases capacity and slashes costs significantly.

In a statement, the MD of WTL, Leigh Smith, lauded NCC’s efforts, stating, “The introduction of these new carriers is clearly a victory for NCC. The established carriers in Nigeria are gradually experiencing a decluttering of their infrastructure. The result is improved speed, reduced latency, and an overall boost in transparency in the market.”

The Chief Technology Officer of Breeze Micro, Jihad Jaafar echoed similar sentiments. He said, “The billionth minute is a momentous occasion for both Breeze Micro and our fellow interconnect exchange carriers. WTL’s expertise has been absolutely crucial to our success. The team’s wisdom and experience has been incredibly beneficial to the telecoms market and, indeed, the people of Nigeria.”

WTL’s range of VoIP and hybrid VoIP/TDM switches are engineered to replace the outdated, costly, and maintenance-intensive devices traditional networks have had to contend with. These modern switches can handle thousands of simultaneous calls and earned recognition at last year’s AfricaCom awards, bagging second place in the Best Cost Efficiency Innovation category.

This article was updated in 2025 to reflect modern realities.

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