diff --git a/pkg/nimble/Makefile.include b/pkg/nimble/Makefile.include
index 7d3f899ff1..3eff6ceba6 100644
--- a/pkg/nimble/Makefile.include
+++ b/pkg/nimble/Makefile.include
@@ -90,6 +90,11 @@ ifneq (,$(filter nimble_netif,$(USEMODULE)))
   # NimBLEs internal buffer need to hold one IPv6 MTU per connection
   # for the internal MTU of 256 byte, we need 10 mbufs per connection...
   CFLAGS += -DMYNEWT_VAL_MSYS_1_BLOCK_COUNT=35
+
+  # optimize the NimBLE controller for IP traffic
+  ifneq (,$(filter nimble_controller,$(USEMODULE)))
+    CFLAGS += -DMYNEWT_VAL_BLE_LL_CFG_FEAT_DATA_LEN_EXT=1
+  endif
 endif
 ifneq (,$(filter nimble_scanlist,$(USEMODULE)))
   INCLUDES += -I$(RIOTPKG)/nimble/scanlist/include