AFRICA’S DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE REVOLUTION: DATA CENTRES, FIBRE NETWORKS AND CLOUD HUBS

Africa is undergoing a profound digital transformation in 2025, powered by a surge in data centres, high-capacity fibre networks, and rapidly expanding cloud infrastructure. From Senegal’s Atlantic coast to Kenya’s rising tech corridors, new facilities are reshaping how the continent connects, computes, and conducts business. The African data centre market valued at $3.6 billion in 2023 is expected to surpass $11 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, more than 1.5 million kilometres of terrestrial fibre now span the continent, forming the backbone of everything from mobile money and e-commerce to artificial intelligence and public services.

This acceleration is driven by a convergence of global investment and local innovation. Tech giants including Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services, and Huawei are racing to establish cloud “availability zones” in cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos, Nairobi, and soon Accra and Cairo. African operators like Liquid Intelligent Technologies, WIOCC, and MainOne are simultaneously expanding backbone networks and landing new submarine cables. The 2Africa cable which went fully live in late 2024 added more than 180 Tbps of capacity around the continent’s coastline, marking one of the most significant upgrades in global internet history. Combined, these investments have sharply reduced latency, cut data costs, and made cloud adoption feasible for millions of businesses that once relied on costly satellite links.

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East Africa stands out as the early leader. Kenya now hosts more than a dozen tier-3 and tier-4 facilities, positioning Nairobi as one of the continent’s most dynamic digital capitals. Google’s $1 billion fibre and cloud expansion, Microsoft’s Azure region launched in 2024, and the build-out of the Djibouti–Nairobi corridor have created a fertile ecosystem for fintech firms, start-ups, and research institutions. Across the Indian Ocean, Mauritius is crafting its niche as a low-latency bridge between Africa and Asia, with new installations designed for disaster recovery, financial services, and high-frequency trading.

West Africa long limited by bandwidth costs and network reliability has quickly gained momentum. Nigeria’s data centre capacity has more than doubled since 2022, led by Rack Centre’s flagship Lagos campus, MDXi (MainOne), Africa Data Centres, and the new Kasi Cloud facility in Lekki. With the Equiano cable already delivering major improvements since 2022 and the 2Africa Pearls branch expected soon, wholesale bandwidth prices in Lagos have fallen by more than 70% in just three years. Ghana is following closely behind: the Accra Digital Centre and a planned Amazon Web Services region expected in 2026 are positioning the country as a rising West African cloud hub.

North Africa is charting a different but equally ambitious path, leveraging renewable energy and strategic geography to build resilient infrastructure. Morocco’s N+ONE facilities in Casablanca and Rabat run partly on solar power, while Egypt’s new Suez Canal data centre park aims to serve both African and European traffic. Algeria and Tunisia are expanding domestic fibre at record speeds, with Algeria completing a 45,000-km rollout in 2025. Together, these efforts are turning the Maghreb into a critical bridge between Europe’s regulated markets and sub-Saharan Africa’s fast-growing digital economy.

Despite this impressive momentum, the revolution remains uneven. Rural and landlocked regions face steep challenges high deployment costs, fragile power grids, limited backhaul, and regulatory barriers. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and parts of the Sahel, fewer than 20% of people live within 25 kilometres of a fibre node. Experts warn that without deliberate investments in middle-mile and last-mile networks, Africa’s digital divide may widen even as major cities become world-class hubs. Initiatives such as the World Bank’s Digital Economy for Africa (DE4A) program and the Smart Africa Alliance are pushing for open-access wholesale models to close these gaps.

Concerns around data security and digital sovereignty are also shaping policy. Countries including Rwanda and Nigeria have introduced data localisation laws requiring sensitive information to be stored within national borders. This has spurred demand for locally operated, carrier-neutral facilities from companies such as Raxio Group, Teraco, and Africa Data Centres allowing governments and enterprises to meet compliance requirements without compromising performance. At the same time, geopolitical tensions over equipment suppliers, especially debates involving Huawei, continue to influence procurement strategies across the continent.

For a continent that leapfrogged fixed lines straight into mobile money, this new digital build-out represents far more than technological catch-up. It is redefining Africa’s place in global technology flows positioning the continent not just as a consumer of digital services but increasingly as a producer and innovator. The servers humming in Nairobi, Lagos, and Cairo today are powering the next chapter of the African century.