Nigeria’s largest data centre operator, Main One, intends to almost double its capacity following a surge in demand in West Africa.
The company provides undersea cable and broadband connectivity and has built terrestrial fibre and interconnection facilities across eight West African countries. At the end of last year, it became the first Microsoft Azure Peering Services partner for West Africa.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg country manager for Ghana, Emmanuel Kwarteng, said that capacity will be extended from 714 racks to 900 racks next year; and that an additional 300 racks could be added by 2023 if the surge in demand is sustained. In Lagos, a 130-rack facility will be completed this year, with further plans for a 50-rack centre in Ivory Coast in 2022, as well as increasing its facility in Ghana from 104 to 400 racks by 2023.
According to Kwarteng, the data centre market is seeing an increase in demand from large companies such as financial institutions, manufacturers, oil and gas companies and enterprises as well as smaller businesses forced to work form home by the Covid 19 pandemic.