* Nxtra aims to build one of the largest network of data centres on the African continent
* With high-capacity data centres in major cities located strategically across Airtel Africa’s footprint, complementing its existing edge sites
By Duncan Mlanjira
Nxtra by Airtel, a new data centre business that Airtel Africa has launched is founded on a commitment to meet the continent’s growing needs for trusted, and sustainable data centre capacity and to serve the fast-growing African digital economy.
A statement from Airtel Africa says Nxtra aims to build one of the largest network of data centres in Africa with high-capacity data centres in major cities located strategically across Airtel Africa’s footprint, complementing its existing edge sites.
Airtel Africa is a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries, primarily in East, Central and West Africa.
The company says Nxtra’s ambition will allow it to serve the growing needs of African enterprises and its data centre infrastructure will be designed to host the next generation of computing, while providing multi-MW capacity in a phased manner.
These facilities will meet stringent global security requirements and meet ‘five nines’ availability and coupled with Airtel Africa’s extensive fibre footprint, Nxtra offers secure and scalable integrated solutions to global hyper-scalers, large African enterprises, startups, SMEs and governments.
Through locally available data centre capacity, speed to access digital services will improve and the cost of managing data will be reduced — thus helping power increased innovation, while supporting a new generation of African tech talent.
Furthermore, Nxtra is enabling customers meet data sovereignty requirements while at the same time enabling more local cloud services to be offered in the countries where Airtel Africa operates.
The first major Nxtra facility in Lagos, Nigeria, will deliver 34MW of total power and it is designed to host high density racks and integrate the latest best practice construction to achieve 1.3 power usage effectiveness (PUE). It is expected to be live in mid-2025.
To deliver on Nxtra’s vision, Airtel Africa says it has appointed Yashnath Issur, the former head of global data centre portfolio management at Amazon Web Services, as CEO of Nxtra by Airtel.
Yashnath has 16 years of experience in the industry and has, over the past year, built a team of experts to execute on the strategy.
“A rapid increase in data centre capacity is needed to support the growth potential of Africa’s digital economy,” Airtel Africa’s Group CEO, Segun Ogunsanya is quoted as saying in the statement.
“We’re proud to drive the future of Africa’s digital infrastructure, unlocking opportunities for businesses to grow and fuelling economic prosperity.
“Airtel Africa’s team has consistently shown our ability to deliver on infrastructure projects across Africa, and we are confident that our next generation data centres will support our ambition to become the partner of choice for global customers and Africa’s newest tech unicorns alike,” he said.
Airtel Africa offers an integrated suite of telecommunications solutions to its subscribers, including mobile voice and data services as well as mobile money services both nationally and internationally.
The Group aims to continue providing a simple and intuitive customer experience through streamlined customer journeys.