The Africa data centre market size is expected to cross US$3bn by 2025. The market has remained comparatively strong after the pandemic, it continues to steadily grow - with interest growing with it including from the likes of major global cloud service providers.
Here is Data Centre Magazine’s round up of the top African providers in the industry.
10. 21st Century Technologies
HQ: Lagos, Nigeria
CEO: Wale Ajisebutu
With a vision to create state-of-the-art infrastructure to offer world class services to its customers and solve critical problems for the industries, 21st Century Technologies has sustainability at the heart of everything it does. Incorporated in 1997, the company is positioned to build converged, multi-service and efficiently managed communications networks in Africa.
It is now a leader in data centres, towers, power, technology platforms, and payment solutions.
9. Paratus
Head Office: Pretoria, South Africa
CEO: Schalk Erasmus
Paratus secure and reliable data centre services across Angola, Namibia, and Zambia. Equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, its facilities feature multiple layers of security, advanced cooling systems, and backup power generators and are strategically located to ensure low latency and high availability, providing clients with robust and scalable solutions for their data storage and processing needs.
8. PAIX
HQ: Accra, Ghana
CEO: Wouter van Hulten
A leading provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data centre services in Africa, PAIX houses, protects and connects clients to their most valuable applications.
The Pan-African provider was founded in 2016, and offers services to its national and international customer base across the African continent. Its vision is to be the heart of Africa’s digital economy, enabling customers to enhance their value proposition by effectively interconnecting their businesses within their communities of interest for a “better, healthier, wealthier and more inclusive African continent”.
7. Open Access Data Centres
HQ: Lagos, Nigeria
CEO: Ayotunde Coker
A WIOCC Group company, Open Access Data Centres aims to transform the provision of data centre services for Africa. The company is implementing a world-class, carrier-neutral, pan-African data centre footprint, deploying open-access, Tier III hyperscale data centres at major cable landing locations and in key business hubs continent-wide.
The brand’s vision is to enable Africa’s digital ecosystem and drive the economy in a sustainable fashion while offering world-class, client-centric data centre facilities.
6. IXAfrica
HQ: Nairobi, Kenya
CEO: Guy Willner
IXAfrica’s centralised, state-of-the-art data centre and carrier neutral colocation facility is amid Africa’s growing technology epicentre in Nairobi, Kenya. The brand is the largest and technologically advanced digital habitat for cloud, collocation, and connectivity in East Africa, designed to assemble hypercloud and internet customers in East Africa’s largest data hub campus. IXAfrica offers the first hyperscale data centre in East Africa and strategically located around Africa’s growing technology epicentre.
Its CEO Guy Willner has built out hyperscale data centre infrastructure across the world where demand is high and continues to strike out at the forefront of developing markets.
5. Medallion Data Centres
HQ: Lagos, Nigeria
CEO: Ikechukwu Nnamani
Acquired by Digital Realty in 2021, Medallion has been offering data centre services in Lagos and Abuja for 16 years. Its data centres are home to most of the major telecommunication infrastructure in Nigeria and is currently implementing a series of new facilities across the country and wider West African regions to boost and digitise the local economy. Medallion says its data centres are the most connected facilities in West Africa, with more than 70% of all internet traffic exchanged at the Nigeria Internet Exchange taking place at Medallion’s data centres.
4. BCX
HQ: Johannesburg, South Africa
CEO: Jonas Bogoshi
BCX has 12 data centres across South Africa and offers 24/7 operational support to its customers to meet regional and global demand. Its Centurion headquarters opened in 2017, boasting 36,000sqm of office space as well as a 2,500sqm warehouse. BCX’s specialists offer consulting services to assist in designing, building and maintaining world-class facilities.
3. MainOne
HQ: Lagos, Nigeria
CEO: Funke Opeke
An Equinix company, MainOne is a leading West African data centre and connectivity solutions provider. The company has presence in its home country of Nigeria as well as Ghana and Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire). MainOne provides services to major telecom operators, ISPs, government agencies, small to large enterprises, and educational institutions. MDXi, a subsidiary of MainOne, builds and operates data centres across West Africa.
CEO Funke Opeke is one of the leading voices in African data centres, and a hugely inspirational figurehead for women in the regional market, as well as the wider data centre industry.
2. Africa Data Centres
HQ: Johannesburg, South Africa
Group Executive Director: Stephane Duproz (of parent company Cassava Technologies)
“Empowering Africa through excellence”, Africa Data Centres brings global skills to local markets as a trusted partner for rapid and secure data centre services across the African continent.
Its facilities are purpose-built and entirely owned and operated by the brand, meaning the physical and digital security of data and transactional computer processing remain front of mind. Africa Data Centres has one of Africa’s few tier 4-certified facilities.
1. Teraco Data Environments
HQ: Johannesburg, South Africa
CEO: Jan Hnizdo
Teraco is one of the continent’s leading carrier-neutral colocation providers, and is the first provider of highly resilient, vendor-neutral data environments in sub-Saharan Africa. The brand - which was acquired by Digital Realty in 2022 - forms a vital part of the African internet’s backbone with its world-class data centre infrastructure and network-dense ecosystems.
A growing company, it is Africa’s largest data centre provider and its capacity continues to expand. Back in January, the company raised R11.8bn rand (US$680 million) in funds, which its Chief Financial Officer Samuel Erwin said would assist with its expansion plans and power build-out.
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