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New facility in Accra hopes to link the rapidly growing African population
Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | In its quest to ramp up uptake of digital services on the continent, the Africa Data Centres, the largest network of interconnected, carrier-and cloud-neutral data centre facilities on the continent, has acquired land in Accra, Ghana, to set up one of the biggest data hubs in the west African region.
The new facility which is partly funded by the United States government’s International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is intended to accelerate private sector-led digital infrastructure and services in Africa and is part of Africa Data Centres’ continental expansion plans spanning 10 of Africa’s major economic hubs, including South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Rwanda, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Angola.
The Ghanaian government has provided land at the former Trade Fair showgrounds in Accra’s CBD. Once completed, it will be the largest facility in West Africa to-date, outside of Nigeria. The new facility has been designed for an initial 10 MW, which can be expanded to 30MW depending on demand, noted a statement sent to The Independent on May 18. The first phase is scheduled to be completed within 12 months.
Speaking about the proposed facility, Nana Akufo-Addo, the President of Ghana noted that the establishment of the 10MW data centre, in the heart of Accra, is a significant step towards bridging the infrastructure gap, and developing further Ghana’s digital economy.
“This investment and the Government’s drive at digitizing all sectors of the economy will enable us increase our capacity to access digital services, and help even more to attract foreign direct investment into our economy,” he said.
Why data centres are critical in Africa’s digital revolution
According to cyber security experts, data centres are the foundation of digitally led economic growth around the world. The experts note that developing sustainable and self-sufficient ICT ecosystems is impossible without them.
This is why many data centres are emerging in several parts of the continent and the Africa Data Centres is leading the charge in laying the foundation for a digital revolution on the continent.
Working across a dozen countries in eastern and southern Africa, the Africa Data Centre serves mobile operators, carriers, enterprises, media and content companies and retail customers with high-speed, reliable connectivity, hosting and colocation and digital services. It has also built Africa’s largest independent fibre network stretching more than 73,000km.
It has put up centres across the continent’s regional business and trade hubs. These locations are rapidly emerging as epicenters for public and private cloud hosting, attracting both multinationals and the largest African enterprises.
Over 50 leading carriers call Africa Data Centres their home, as do major internet exchanges, including the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX), Cape Town (CINX) and Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP).
Amos Hochstein, the U.S Government’s senior advisor further noted that this particular investment exemplifies the U.S.’s commitment under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) which is aimed at unlocking public and private capital for sustainable infrastructure investment.
Scott Nathan, the CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) expressed his pride at his organization’s support that it has offered to the African Data Centres.
“This new facility in Accra will be an investment in critical infrastructure helping to better link the rapidly growing African population and market to global opportunities.”
Nathan noted that DFC’s commitment to strengthen ICT Infrastructure in West Africa is aimed at keeping with the commitments President Biden made to mobilize private capital for the kind of high-quality global infrastructure investments that improve peoples’ lives.
“This new data centre will help accomplish that in Ghana and for the region, creating jobs by improving existing business conditions while at the same time attracting data-dependent companies looking to invest and expand their operations.”
Alongside the data centres in South Africa and Kenya, the Ghana data centre is laying the groundwork for a digital revolution on the continent.
“Our new data centre in Ghana is a significant step towards Africa Data Centres’ goal of narrowing the digital divide in the West Africa region,” Tesh Durvasula, the CEO of Africa Data Centres.
“Hyper-scale data centres, preferred by major US tech companies, multinational corporations, banks and other local enterprises, are the specialty of Africa Data Centres,” he said, “Our data centres are supported with independent solar and battery storage power, enabling us to bring digital technologies whilst mitigating our environmental impact.”
