A data centre in Lagos, Nigeria, is set to become one of the largest in West Africa.

This is thanks to a US$100 million expansion programme announced by local carrier-neutral colocation operator Rack Centre, following the acquisition of a controlling interest  in the company by private-capital investor Actis.

In March, Actis announced that, together with ICT infrastructure investor Convergence Partners, it was launching a US$250 million pan-African buy-and-build data-centre investment platform. In addition to Rack Centre, the platform is developing buy-and-build opportunities across Africa, to establish a network of carrier-neutral data centres.

Rack Centre says the expansion programme involves increasing its total net lettable white space to 6 000 m² and enabling up to 13 MW of IT power capacity. This is further to current expansion works to double existing capacity to 1.5 MW and 1 200 m² of white space by early 2021.

The design of the phase-two expansion is targeting regional power utilisation efficiency standards and aims to contribute to three of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, namely clean and affordable energy; industry, innovation and infrastructure; and climate action.

8 September 2020
Image: Gallo/Getty Images