MTN Nigeria has announced the launch of largest Tier-3 Data Centre in West Africa. The data centre is named "Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre," and it's also classified as one of the largest in Africa. The data centre boasts a capacity of nine megawatts and features advanced cloud infrastructure.
The data centre possesses two (2) phases: phase one and phase two. However, MTN has rolled out the first phase of the data centre which is offering 4.5 megawatts IT load/capacity. The phase one (1) covers three stories, contains 780 server racks, and costs $100 million to build.
Once fully operational, the data centre will achieve a 9MW capacity. The second phase will be deployed in response to growing demand for Tier IV certification—the top global standard for reliability and redundancy—costing an estimated $135 million.
Quick Hints: A Tier-3 data centre is a type of data facility that offers a high level of availability, reliability, and redundancy. It is part of the Uptime Institute's tier classification system, which ranks data centres from Tier 1 to Tier 4 based on their infrastructure and ability to ensure continuous operations.
Furthermore, the total investment for the Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre phases amounts to $235 million, with $20 million allocated specifically to the cloud infrastructure. This financial analysis was revealed by Yahaya Ibrahim, MTN Nigeria’s Chief Technical Officer.
This project puts MTN at the top of Nigeria’s booming data centre scene, jumping into a lively market where companies like Rack Centre, Open Access Data Centres (OADC), MainOne (Equinix), and Digital Realty (via Medallion) have long been the big players.
Benefits: Local Cloud, Local Advantages
The MTN DATA CENTRE's cloud platform features self-orchestration capabilities, a first in Nigeria. This allows developers to log in and remotely control their computing and storage resources—much like they would with platforms such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure.
However, this adoption of local data centre could result in about $350 million in yearly capital loss due to overseas data hosting, according to Industry estimates and analytics.
Now that MTN Nigeria is providing this type of cloud services that match—and in some cases surpass—those of global giants like Amazon and Microsoft, Nigerian startups and businesses no longer have to depend on international providers.
The Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre is located in Ikeja, Nigeria. However, according to Lynda Saint-Nwafor, MTN Nigeria’s Chief Enterprise Business Officer, storing these data in Lagos where most Nigerian companies are situated helps in reducing latency and quicker data access.
Furthermore, the MTN Data Centre will be priced in naira. Although foreign companies have already been accepting naira payments, but pricing services in naira, rather than just accepting naira payments, better aligns with local market needs.
In addition to that, moving to B2B services like data centres helps telecom companies diversify revenue streams beyond tariff hikes. The Tier III data centre facility is part of the telco’s broader push to strengthen cloud infrastructure.
Lastly, it's important to note that the MTN Data Centre is in full compliance with Nigerian regulators including the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) mandates.
