MTN Nigeria has officially launched West Africa’s largest commercial data centre, marking its entry into the competitive cloud and data hosting market.
The newly unveiled Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre, which honours the former MTN Group CEO, represents a $240 million investment and aims to transform Nigeria’s digital infrastructure landscape.
Located in Ikeja, Lagos, the facility stands as Nigeria’s largest pre-fabricated modular data centre, comprising 96 containers and an initial capacity of 1,500 racks.
MTN operates the centre as a Tier III data facility with 4.5 megawatts of IT load capacity in its first phase. The company plans to expand the centre to 14 megawatts within 24 months and upgrade it to Tier IV standards to ensure near-perfect uptime.
By making this move, MTN positions itself as a formidable competitor to global cloud giants like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.
As analysts project the Nigerian cloud market to reach $1.63 billion in 2025, MTN eyes disruption opportunities, especially in infrastructure as a service, which is expected to hit $500 million this year alone.
A key advantage MTN offers is its pricing strategy—providing cloud services in Nigerian naira instead of US dollars—helping local businesses avoid foreign exchange risks.
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MTN combines this pricing with self-orchestration capabilities— a first in Nigeria—empowering businesses to manage their computing resources independently and enhance flexibility and control.
By hosting data locally, the data centre significantly reduces latency, boosting performance for Nigerian enterprises and consumers.
Early partnerships already include the Abia State Government, which signed a comprehensive MoU with MTN to leverage the facility for statewide broadband expansion, digital governance, and device financing programs for civil servants.
Highlighting the market potential, MTN’s Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Lynda Saint-Nwafor, noted that Nigerian businesses spent up to $850 million on cloud services in 2024—an indicator of robust demand for locally hosted, cost-effective solutions.
CEO Karl Toriola emphasised that the data centre supports MTN’s broader Vision 2025 strategy to evolve from a telecom operator into a technology company driving Nigeria’s digital economy.
The launch of the Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre is set to catalyse innovation, support micro, small, and medium enterprises, and contribute to Nigeria’s economic diversification beyond oil. With plans to scale capacity and introduce AI-focused infrastructure, MTN intends to play a pivotal role in West Africa’s digital transformation.
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