Indian telco Bharti Airtel is set to build five data centers in Africa under its Nxtra brand.

Nxtra Data Centers is one of the largest data center operators in India, but has yet to venture abroad. The company is a joint venture between Airtel and Carlyle, with the latter taking a 24 percent stake in Nxtra for $325 million last year.

While Nxtra has no presence in Africa, parent Airtel is one of the continent's largest service providers, with a presence in 14 countries.

"We already have 40 Edge data centers in Africa, which we use for our own captive use," Vani Venkatesh, Airtel Global Business' CEO, told Light Reading.

"We have also invested in two submarine cables to Africa, 2Africa and Equiano. As these cables will land, we are setting up five hyperscale data centers in Africa. We have every intent to grow Africa in a big way."

Nxtra currently operates 12 data centers in India, as well as 120 Edge facilities or Points-of-Presence.