Airtel’s African division is set to establish a data center in Nairobi, Kenya, as part of its broader initiative. This comes in tandem with Airtel’s ongoing project for a 36MW data center in Lagos, Nigeria, slated to commence construction shortly.
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Airtel
CEO Segun Ogunsanya revealed that the Nairobi facility is anticipated to offer 7MW of IT capacity, though specific details, such as timelines, remain undisclosed. Ogunsanya outlined the company’s schedule during a conference call in early February, stating that groundbreaking in Nigeria is scheduled in the coming weeks, with the Kenyan project following suit. With an estimated two-year construction timeline, the data centers are projected to be operational around mid-2026.
Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel, asserts that these local data centers will enhance digital service accessibility and streamline data management costs. Segun Ogunsanya, set to retire in July 2024, will be succeeded by Sunil Taldar, while Yashnath Issur, former head of global data center portfolio management at AWS, has been appointed as CEO.
This development comes a month after the launch of Nxtra Data Centers, Airtel Africa’s data center business, in partnership with Carlyle. The Nigeria and Kenya data centers fall under the Nxtra brand, with the Lagos facility being the first of five planned hyperscale data centers in Africa. Following Nairobi, the company aims to establish smaller data centers at mobile cable landing stations in Tanzania, DRC Congo, and Gabon.
Airtel Africa already operates 40 Edge data centers on the continent, and Nxtra Data Centers has a presence in India, managing 12 data centers and 120 Edge facilities or Points-of-Presence.
In addition to its data center endeavors, Airtel has been actively deploying 5G sites in Africa, particularly in Nigeria and Kenya, with the latter’s launch in July 2023, along with some deployments in Zambia and Tanzania.
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