The company said the data centre, in Luanda, the capital of Angola, is housed in the Kings Tower building in the centre of the city.
Africell Angola CEO Christopher Lundh (pictured) said: “Africell is investing in technology that will provide Angola with faster, more affordable and more reliable digital connectivity than ever before.”
He said the data centre “features unique technological features that have been designed in collaboration with world-renowned technology partners and built to the highest standards of efficiency, performance and resilience”. The company listed its suppliers as HP, Nokia, Dell and Oracle.
According to the Ecofin agency, Africell’s investment in a data centre is one of the last major investments for the telecoms company before the official launch of its mobile network in December.
The data centre will also benefit Angolan businesses by providing them with an open environment in which they can host, integrate and run their applications at low cost, said Africell.
The move into Angola follows Africell’s decision in September to close its operations in Uganda, at the opposite side of Africa. It announced last month that Ugandan operations would cease by 7 October.
It said: “Africell’s decision to leave Uganda is based on a careful assessment of the long-term commercial outlook for the business and its fit within the overall group strategy of driving digital transformation in the communities we serve.”
However the group is also planning to expand its activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The company’s founder, Ziad Dalloul, told DRC prime minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge of Africell’s plans in a meeting last week
Ian Paterson, chief investment officer of Africell Group, told reporters that “We are here [in DRC] because we are doing a huge expansion of our network, especially in the east of the country.” He said Africell will double the size of its DRC network.
In June, Africell secured a syndicated loan of US$105 million from international financial institutions, including Gemcorp Capital, Gramercy Funds Management, TC Credit Partners and Helios Investment Partners.
