The construction of the Africell data centre in Freetown, Sierra Leone, has officially begun following a groundbreaking ceremony carried out at 30F Lumley Beach Road, where the data centre will be situated.Â
The ceremony was led by Africell, one of Sierra Leone’s largest mobile communication companies. Shadi Gerjawi, Africell Sierra Leone’s Managing Director, said in his opening address that the data centre’s construction was another excellent representation of Africell’s position in the changing landscape of Africa’s Tele Communications Technology enabled services.
Read also: LOS1 Lagos Data Centre Development in Eko Atlantic City, Lagos, Nigeria
Expectations for the Africell data centre in Freetown
The Africell data centre in Freetown, according to Gerjawi, will become the centre of the Africell network in the West African country. The Africell Sierra Leone’s Managing Director explained that the multi-functional data centre would be fresh and new in Sierra Leone and the region of Mano River Union, and that it would first act as Africell’s Disaster Recovery Center, ensuring network resilience and redundancy for voice and data.
Shadi Gerjawi mentioned that a part of the Africell data centre in Freetown will be reserved for hosting third-party infrastructure and data, as well as offering a substantial storage capacity for disaster recovery and redundancy for the government, and non-governmental organizations, and private companies. Adding that the facility will soon be ready to host a second undersea cable for Sierra Leone.
Chief Minister Jacob Jusu Saffa stated in his brief keynote address that the construction of the state-of-the-art data centre in Freetown is a huge milestone forward in Sierra Leone’s technological advancement.
He stated that he had been informed that Africell has been in Sierra Leone since 2005 and that they have been through a significant transition and expansion of their telecommunication services in the country.
Africell’s relationship with Sierra Leone
According to him, Africell has proven to be a reliable partner in the development of not just technology but also other areas of development, such as cooperative social responsibilities, with network expansion exceeding 88 per cent in populated areas of the country.
On behalf of NaTCOM, Chairman of the National Tele-Communications Commission (NaTCOM), Joseph C. Blell commended Africell for continuing to fulfil its regulatory task of providing the platform for mobile phone operators and customers to provide the most critical services for Sierra Leone’s people.
He claimed that he was pleased that Africell invited them to witness the groundbreaking ceremony for a new data centre.
Joseph C. Blell promised that NaTCOM would continue to support major network operators in bringing Sierra Leone up to the same level as other countries in terms of information technology development.
