Africa Data Centres has announced plans to build 10 Interconnected, cloud- and carrier neutral data centres in 10 African countries in an unrivalled $500m investment in Africa’s digital future. This will take place throughout Africa, including the North African countries of Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.
The project is being funded through new equity and facilities from leading development finance institutions and multilateral organisations.
Africa Data Centres CEO, Stephane Duproz, explained that the finance for the roll-out had been provided by equity and loans to Africa Data Centres’ parent company, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, to fully fund the expansion.
Explaining the ambitious initiative, Duproz said, “We have already begun to acquire land in these countries and plan to roll-out very quickly to meet the needs of our existing and new customers. This is just the beginning for us.” The expansion will more than double Africa Data Centres’ already significant footprint on the continent.
“All our data centres are world-class – built to the same, global market-leading standard and offer a reliable, resilient, secure and interconnected base.
This allows multinational organisations to confidently enter the market, knowing their future growth is assured and they have access to open carrier systems to the rest of the continent.
Additionally, without access to always-on, high-speed data centre facilities, the private sector cannot compete globally and will see slowed growth locally; equally important is the impact IT services have on the public sector – from healthcare to transport infrastructure.”
Duproz said industries especially likely to be buoyed by Africa Data Centres’ expansion is the banking and growing fintech sectors, insurance and medical organisations, the public sector, hyperscale cloud providers and content providers.
These industries, he said, are highly sensitive to data speed, security, guaranteed uptime and are exacting when it comes to reliability and trust in their providers. The SME market too has found a significant opportunity for growth by plugging into the digital ecosystems that data centres provide.
Duproz also expanded on further benefits, “We guarantee carrier-neutrality – meaning our tenants benefit from competition, redundancy and reliability.
And, perhaps most importantly, is our commitment to sustainable, clean builds. We invest heavily in innovative grey-water systems, waste disposal and renewable energy sources, ensuring our carbon footprint is drastically reduced, our reliability is uncontested and while building economies, we’re aiding the environment.”
