Portuguese telco Ar Telecom is to build a new data center in Lisbon.
Eco reports that the company is planning to invest €10 million ($11.3m) in constructing a 1,400 sqm (15,000 sq ft) facility in the city.
The data center will have capacity for 150 racks, with the potential to expand to 4,200 in the future. The facility is expected to come online in 2023.
Ar is reportedly exploring the potential to use solar energy to power the data center. The company is also expanding its fiber network rollout; it has services in the pilot phase in the Greater Lisbon area which will be extended to other business centers across the country during 2022 and 2023.
“We already have a data center, but we hope to become much more competitive in this area, through the use of renewable energies and a design concept that is much more efficient, much more modern than what was done 20 years ago," said Ar CEO Tiago Oliveira Saints.
Ar operates three data centers in Portugal in Lison, Porto, and Viseu, and has a presence in several Equinix facilities (previously operated by Itconic until it was acquired in 2017). Spanish firm Aire Networks acquired the company earlier this year.
"Ar Telecom has been guided for the last eight to ten years by having the capacity to self-finance its growth," said Saints in reference to the new owners and investments. "We didn't have these ambitious projects and the shareholder framework was different, our average annual investment was around €2.5 million ($2.8m) per year in networks, customers, technological renovations. Now it's accelerating."
