Announced in December 2021, the completion of this acquisition comes in line with Equinix’s long-term goal to become a African digital infrastructure company by being able to deliver a range of technologies and connectivity to Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).
The addition of MainOne to the Equinix portfolio will extend Platform Equinix into West Africa, giving organisations based inside and outside of Africa access to global and regional markets.
MainOne, headquartered in Lagos, was founded by Funke Opeke in 2010, and has digital infrastructure assets, including three operational data centres, with an additional facility in Lagos expected to open in April 2022.
As well as an extensive submarine network extending 7,000km from Portugal to Lagos, Accra and along the West African coast, with landing stations in Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Plus, a terrestrial network of more than 1,200km of e terrestrial fibre in Lagos, Edo and Ogun States. In addition to, connectivity to terrestrial sites extends across 65 points of presence in cities across Portugal, Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
Capacity spoke to Opeke for the February/March issue of Capacity Magazine about this transaction, aside of from obvious synergies between the two companies, Opeke confirmed that: “We will continue to run as MainOne under the Equinix umbrella. And we will continue to grow and try to accelerate that business in West Africa with the same management team we have today.”
Specifically, MainOne will operate under a new brand “MainOne, an Equinix company” with continuing to the lead the business as CEO with its existing 500 employees and a management team.
“Equinix recognises that there is value in that local market knowledge and our track record of excellent service delivery for our customers,” said Opeke in the interview. “They’re not looking to displace or disrupt that but compliment it with capabilities that they have on a global basis."
