Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 33 | Page 67

/////////////////////////////////////////////////// t cht lk DRIVING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN AFRICA THROUGH DATA CENTRES Demand for data centre services in Africa is on the rise, driven by improving connectivity levels and rising data traffic volumes amongst its large ‘digital native’ market. Robert Mullins, Executive Director of First Brick Holdings, tells us how this rise in data centre developments is providing the necessary environment to transport data at scale in the region, which in turn is driving demand for digital content, mobile money, cloud services and more. W ith continued and sustained growth in Internet penetration and connectivity, some of the foundations begin to be in place for a deeper and more meaningful Digital Transformation in Africa. In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile penetration reached 44% in 2018, catalysing an uptake in demand for data for both business and personal use. With 41% of the population under the age of 15, the region is also home to a www.intelligentcio.com market of digital natives hungry for modern technological services – this, combined with the availability of increasingly affordable smartphones and mobile data plans, means demand for all things digital in the region is on the rise. Building data centres that can cope with these rising requirements is critical to driving this Digital Transformation. With new technologies such as IoT, cloud and content delivery networks fuelling both consumer “ BUILDING AND UTILISING LOCAL DATA CENTRES IS VITAL TO BOOSTING THIS FIGURE AND DRIVING ECONOMIC GROWTH. INTELLIGENTCIO 67