FEATURE : DATA CENTRES
Build up challenges
Key takeaways
• It is estimated that there are over 10,000 data centres in the world today .
• On the African continent , there are 100 + data centres , most of them located in South Africa , Nigeria and Kenya .
• With forecasts of US $ 7 billion in Africa data centre investments at a CAGR of 7 % from 2024 to 2028 , this is still far short of demand .
• Analysts maintain that Africa needs at least 700 new data centres to meet its connectivity and data storage requirements over the medium term .
• Drivers includes tenant space for businesses and SMME ’ s looking to manage future cloud , peering and localised storage needs .
• In US and Europe , data centres attract investment because there is an exponential increase in demand for data storage , processing , content caching and cloud management .
• Cities like Johannesburg , Cape Town , Lagos , Nairobi are leading Africa ’ s race for cumulative leased data centre capacity .
• The availability of power and network connectivity is limiting the size and scale of new data facilities that can be constructed .
• Angola Cables ’ fibre network point in Luanda accounts for more than 70 % of Internet and data traffic to and from Africa .
• It is expected that the Angolan data centre market will achieve an annual growth of 9.24 %.
• South Atlantic Cable System , WACS and 2Africa Meta Cable offer express links to share data with networks in other parts of the world .
• Angonix , Angola ’ s Internet Exchange Point is now the third largest IXP in Africa .
• Angonix is using Global Data Interconnect to connect African businesses to more than 66 data centres worldwide .
• South Africa is the largest exchange market in Africa .
• ISPs , CSPs , OTTs , hyperscalers will be the contributors to South Africa ’ s anticipated CAGR of 8.44 %, over next five years .
• Durban on the East Coast of Africa is becoming a strategic location .
• Durban is the landing point for SEACOM , EASSy , SAFE , METISS cables and will also serve the incoming 2Africa cable from Meta .
• Data centres in South Africa are also serving to accommodate data traffic from East Africa and Middle East for alternate redundancy routing to the US .
• One of the biggest challenges impeding expansion of data centres in Africa is access to reliable power sources .
• Access to reliable power supply is a key factor to be considered when planning greenfield data facility developments .
• Power and cooling costs make up significant percentage of Africa data centre expenses , anywhere between 30 % to 70 %.
One of the biggest challenges impeding the expansion of data centres in Africa is access to reliable and consistent power sources . Access to reliable power supply , either through the electricity grid or the use of renewable or green energy , is one of the key factors to be considered when planning greenfield data facility developments .
Power and cooling costs make up a significant percentage of overall data centre expenses , anywhere between 30 % to 70 %. To reduce this , investors and developers alike will need to focus on energy-efficient design and smart operational practices powered by renewable energy , advanced cooling technologies to reduce electricity consumption and overhead costs .
The unrelenting appetite for the adaption of Artificial Intelligence tasks will quadruple the demand for power as these processes require much more computational power than standard data processing activities . The advanced AI chips and GPUs consume on average , two to three times more power than the legacy GPU ’ s in use today .
From a data centre perspective , higher power densities per rack will be required , with each rack consuming around 40kW or more , compared to the traditional racks that consume 10kW of energy or less .
Future drivers
As the demand for data increases and cloud ecosystems expand across the African continent , more data storage facilities will be required . Smart , multipurpose , carrier neutral centres will play a more defining role in the evolution of Africa ’ s digital future .
Investments in new submarine fibre-optic cables and the expansion of terrestrial fibre networks will be critical to the growth of Africa ’ s data centre market . The need for alternate redundancy options will become just as important as primary routing options in today ’ s international business environment .
And an urban metro like Durban on the East Coast of Africa is becoming a strategic location as it is the landing point for the SEACOM , EASSy , SAFE and METISS cables and will also serve the incoming 2Africa cable from Meta .
Data centres in this region are also serving as a vital link to accommodate the growing data traffic from East Africa and the new demand from Middle East as it seeks alternate redundancy routing to cache contents closer to the US .
Angola Cables has built a global backbone network to accommodate the needs of international hyperscalers and operators wanting to grow their investments in Africa . Through its multi-disciplinary approach , it has more than 80,000 km of connected subsea and terrestrial services linking Africa to Latin America , the USA and Europe through SACS , WACS , Monet and through its partnership on the Equiano and Ellalink cables .
Network operators , telcos and future investors will need to take calculated strategic decisions as to when
36 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com