Pan-African cloud service provider ST Digital will build three data centers in the Francophone region of Africa.
The first two data centers will be in Gabon and Cote d’Ivoire, and are expected to be operational this year, according to a report from TechCabal. The third, located in Togo, will be completed in 2025.
Specifications of the data centers have not been disclosed.
The projects follow a recent €10 million ($10.86m) investment from UHURU Investment Partners into ST Digital.
The company said it is in talks with subsea cable operators to provide interconnectivity for its new data centers.
Anthony Same, group director general of ST Digital, said: “To provide local Internet access, we are building ISPs (Internet service providers) in each of our data centers. You won’t suffer submarine cable cuts if you host in our data center.”
ST Digital said it is also on its final investment round to continue its expansion across Africa.
The Cameroon-based company already provides cloud services in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Togo, Gabon, and Cote d’Ivoire.
Equinix-owned MainOne launched a data center in Cote d’Ivoire at the end of last year.
Earlier this year, four cables off the West coast of Africa were damaged in a suspected undersea landslide. The WACS, SAT-3, and ACE cables have all now been restored, with just the MainOne cable awaiting repair.
