According to ADC's latest progress update, the facility "is well underway" and "will form Africa Data Centres’ West African hub", in line with its regional expansion strategy.
“Our expansion into Nigeria marks one aspect of the company’s growth on the continent,” said Stephane Duproz (pictured), CEO of Africa Data Centres.
“In response to demand generated by hyperscalers, key cloud operators and multinational enterprises already making use of our data centres, we have purchased the Samrand facility in South Africa and our key build in Midrand is under-way. These same clients, who have trusted us with their expansions into Kenya and other African territories, have expressed their interest in bringing digitisation at scale to West Africa. Our leadership and best practice in data centre operations have made us the obvious choice in their expansion strategies.”
When announced in December, it was billed as parent company Liquid's "biggest data centre outside of South Africa". The land was secured and Mohamed Abdel Bassit, Liquid Telecom’s regional CEO for the Middle East and west Africa, said that the expansion coincided with the company’s east-to-west link going live.
Bassit also confirmed the facility would be managed by Wole Abu, the new CEO for the company’s operations in the country. Abu joined Liquid Telecom and Africa Data Centre (ADC) in Nigeria from Pan African Towers, and before that Airtel Nigeria, where he was VP of sales.
The same month, the International Development Finance Corporation (IFC), based in Washington DC, pledged US$300 billion to the company for its expansion, saying the finance would support ADC’s entry into new markets in other African countries, as well as acquisitions.
At the time Strive Masiyiwa, head of Econet Wireless, the Zimbabwe operator that owns Liquid Telecom and ADC, said: “This money will allow us to expand our facilities in South Africa and Kenya, as well as build new facilities in Egypt, Ghana, and Morocco.”
Meeting the demand for digitalisation across West Africa, ADC's is one of a number of data centres that will soon go live on the west coast of the continent.
