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Nic Rudnick, CEO of Liquid Telecom. Liquid Telecom is in the process of being renamed Liquid Intelligent Technologies
Liquid Telecom has raised US $ 307 million (R5 billion) through a rights issue to fund a rapid expansion of its data center business in Africa.
The rights issue included an additional $ 40 million from UK development finance institution CDC Group, the group said in a statement.
Africa’s largest fiber network operator plans to expand its data center unit in five of the continent’s fastest-growing countries, including Egypt and Nigeria, said Stephane Duproz, Liquid’s Africa data center director, by email.
Global tech giants are racing to establish affordable and efficient ways to spread high-speed internet and data warehousing across the continent, where demand is increasing as hundreds of millions of people begin to gain access to services. Web. Although Africa’s data center capacity has doubled in the last three years, it still represents less than 1% of the global total, according to data from Xalam Analytics.
“Africa has significant untapped economic potential that is being unlocked through improved connectivity, data storage and the use of cloud-based applications,” said Nic Rudnick, CEO of Liquid Telecom, in an email.
Exploring locations
Amazon.com, Huawei Technologies and Microsoft have been among the companies investing in data center capacity in African countries in recent years. The market is also attracting buyer companies. Boston-based private equity firm Berkshire Partners acquired a stake in Teraco Data Environments and Actis invested in Rack Center of Nigeria.
Liquid has purchased land in Nigeria and Ghana and is seeking locations in other major countries on the continent, Duproz said. It is also acquiring a Standard Bank Group data center in South Africa and building a nearby one in Johannesburg.
Stephane Duproz, Executive Director of Africa Data Centers
“This will play an important role in addressing the growing demand for digital services and will help bridge the digital divide between Africa and other regions,” said CDC Executive Director Nick O’Donohoe. “Investing in Africa’s digital infrastructure is vital to building resilience within African economies and accelerating their growth.”
The CDC, funded by the UK government, will invest more than $ 1.5 billion in African and Asian businesses this year.
Liquid Telecom, majority owned by Econet Global, has built more than 70,000 km of fiber and operates five data centers in South Africa, Kenya and Rwanda. – (c) 2020 Bloomberg LP
