MTN Nigeria has announced the construction of West Africa’s largest data centre as part of efforts to bolster Nigeria’s digital infrastructure. This state of the art facility, boasting 1,500 racks and Tier 4 classification is poised to meet the escalating data requirements of businesses and individuals across the country.
Mohammed Rufai, the Chief Technical Officer, at MTN Communications Nigeria emphasized the necessity for data processing capabilities due to the surge in data consumption and the introduction new services. He stressed that there is an uptick in data usage within the market and underscored the importance of expanding and modernizing their data centre capacity to cater to this growing demand effectively.
The data centre will play a crucial role in MTN’s infrastructure, providing vital support to businesses across Nigeria. Rufai explained that companies looking for data centre solutions now have an alternative to managing their own server rooms. MTN’s facility will offer the necessary space and services to help these businesses with their digitalization efforts and improve their operational efficiency.
Additionally; this advanced data centre will optimize content delivery from tech giants such as Meta and Google resulting in improved access speeds, for users. This local hosting of content will greatly enhance user experience and network efficiency. The initiative represents not an investment but also a driver, for economic development. By offering flexible infrastructure it will empower businesses, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to take advantage of cloud services and other digital solutions. This in turn will stimulate innovation, productivity and competitiveness across sectors of the economy. Rufai highlighted MTN’s willingness to collaborate with startups and SMEs presenting partnership opportunities in cloud services.
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MTN’s Nigeria data centre is in line with its Ambition 2025 strategy
In line with MTN’s Ambition 2025 strategy the data centre signifies the company’s dedication to Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) objectives. The facility will eventually employ efficient cooling systems along with a mix of energy sources like gas and renewable energy. This move is set to decrease its carbon footprint. Rufai underscored the significance of these initiatives by stating that “up to 60 percent of the power consumption by a data centre, in our region goes towards cooling. Our effective systems are designed to help us achieve our sustainability goals.”
As Nigeria’s data centre progresses in its transformation journey the new data centre represents a major achievement.
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There is an emphasis, on driving innovation maintaining quality and fostering growth to enhance living and deliver better services, economic advantages and a robust digital infrastructure for the future.
A Tier 4 data centre is constructed with fault tolerance redundancy in every component and an uptime expectation of 99.995 percent.
This indicates its ability to withstand disruptions and provide the most dependable infrastructure.
During his remarks Mr. Rufai underscored the requirement for data processing capabilities due to the substantial increase in data usage and the introduction of new services.
“We are observing a rise in demand in the market as data consumption continues to grow
“To meet this demand and prepare for expansion MTN is enhancing and updating its data centre capacity” stated the MTN representative.
He noted that the MTN West Africa’s largest data centre project in Nigeria is not merely an investment but also serves as a driver for development.
