AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital
Realty (NYSE: DLR), the largest global provider of cloud- and
carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection
solutions and Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund announced today
the formation of a joint venture to acquire Medallion Data Centres,
Nigeria's leading colocation and
interconnection provider.
Medallion operates two data centers, one in Lagos, the most populous urban metropolitan
area in Africa with approximately
15 million people, and one in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
Medallion's Lagos data center is
the leading connectivity hub in Western
Africa with over 70 carriers and internet service providers,
over 80% of the public peering traffic on the Nigerian Internet
Exchange, and a peering point for all subsea cables currently
operating in Nigeria with plans to
serve as a peering point for the nine new subsea cables scheduled
to be in operation in Lagos by
2023.
With a population of over 200 million, Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and the seventh
most populous in the world. Its GDP is the largest in
Africa and was the 26th
largest globally in 2019. With a large and young population,
a growing and diversifying economy as well as a maturing regulatory
environment, Nigeria has
experienced strong economic growth in recent years.
As part of the transaction, the joint venture is also acquiring
a land parcel adjacent to the Lagos data center to provide near-term
expansion capacity. Medallion's management team, led by CEO
and co-founder Ike Nnamani, will
continue to lead the business.
Separately, Digital Realty and Pembani Remgro Infrastructure
Fund have successfully partnered with Kenyan data center operator
iColo since 2019, and iColo announced today that it will enter
Mozambique through the development
of its first data center in the country, located in the capital and
port city of Maputo.
The iColo campus in Mombasa was recently expanded to deliver an
additional 1.6 megawatts of power and 12,900 square feet of
capacity for new and existing customers, along with the new subsea
cable landing equipment. In addition, iColo has expanded its
Nairobi campus with the
acquisition of an additional 215,000 square feet of land that will
support 14 megawatts of future data center capacity.
Africa is evolving into a major
interconnection hub for data-driven businesses that require a
scalable, future-proof platform to facilitate global hybrid and
multi-cloud infrastructure. The deployment of
PlatformDIGITAL®, Digital Realty's market-leading global data
center platform, across Africa will enable multinational and local
businesses to rapidly scale their digital transformations by
deploying critical infrastructure with a leading global data center
provider at the heart of a growing connected data community in the
region.
Quotes
A. William
Stein, Chief Executive Officer, Digital
Realty
"Over the next decade, there will be huge
opportunity for global businesses to tap into Africa's expanding internet economy – with
predictions that it could reach 5.2% of the continent's GDP by
2025, contributing nearly $180
billion to its economy (up from $115
billion in 2020). By 2050, the internet economy has
the potential to contribute $712
billion1. Through major
investment in the continent's internet infrastructure, Digital
Realty aims to be a core enabler of these economic and quality of
life gains.
"There is a huge opportunity to both meet growing customer
demand for connectivity in Africa
and improve the internet infrastructure that serves over one
billion people2 who don't yet have proper access to the
benefits of internet. The expansion of our platform announced
today is a leap forward but it's just the start of our $500 million commitment to investment in the
continent over the next decade. We see a huge opportunity to
underpin Africa's expanding
internet economy and play a central role in its
growth."
Rahiel Nasir, Research Analyst at 451 Research, part of
S&P Global Market Intelligence
"With its youthful
population, Africa has seen the
rise of a tech-savvy generation that is fueling ever-greater demand
for digital services. This is being boosted by the expansion
of fiber networks, terrestrial and subsea connections that continue
to connect major metro areas34.
Data centers play a vital role in the communications
infrastructure landscape. Without them, further digital
development across the continent risks hitting a roadblock,
especially for enterprises seeking colocation and cloud services as
part of their digital transformations5. According
to our latest forecasts, overall multi-tenant data center capacity
in the Middle East and
Africa will see a compound annual
growth rate of 10% from 2020 to 2023. We estimate that net
operational floorspace will increase from 5.4 million to 7.2
million square feet during the forecast period, with net UPS power
rising from around 733 megawatts to almost 900
megawatts6."
Rakesh Kukreja, Managing
Director at iSAT Africa
"We need to make internet
access affordable, reliable and power efficient for people in rural
areas of Africa where low
potential revenue and difficulty reaching customers have previously
made it impossible. Digital Realty and Pembani Remgro
Infrastructure Fund's expansion across Africa will bring IP aggregation points closer
to much of Africa's underserved
population, and alongside innovations like LTE and Optimized
Satellite for 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi networks, are now helping tackle
this challenge. iSAT Africa's focused aim is to bring these
technologies together towards bridging the digital gap in rural and
ultra-rural African communities, in addition to bringing the
benefits of good connectivity to people and businesses
everywhere."
Additional Resources
- Interxion enters into agreement for controlling interest in
iColo and establishes strategic partnership with Pembani Remgro
Infrastructure Fund
- iColo contributes to Kenya's
renewable energy grid with new hybrid solar system at its
- Explore global deployment opportunities on
PlatformDIGITAL®
- in Digital Realty's industry manifesto for open interconnection
and next-generation colocation solutions
- Read about our open interconnection manifesto for enabling
connected data communities
About Digital Realty
Digital Realty supports the
world's leading enterprises and service providers by delivering the
full spectrum of data centre, colocation and interconnection
solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company's global data centre
platform, provides customers a trusted foundation and proven
Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx™) solution methodology for
scaling digital business and efficiently managing data gravity
challenges. Digital Realty's global data centre footprint
gives customers access to the connected communities that matter to
them with 291 facilities in 47 metros across 24 countries on six
continents. For more information, please visit
digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and
Twitter.
About the Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund
The
Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund is a joint initiative
established by Remgro, Phuthuma Nhleko and the investment team,
based in Johannesburg. The
strategy of the fund is to invest equity and quasi-equity in the
full spectrum of infrastructure opportunities on the African
continent, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. This includes
investments in greenfield transactions; brownfield and secondary
transactions; as well as logistics and engineering services
companies operating within the infrastructure sector. For
more information visit pembani-remgro.com.
About the Medallion Data Centres
Medallion Data
Centres (MDC) is a carrier-neutral data center operator domiciled
in Nigeria and the leading
connectivity hub in West Africa.
It has highly connected data centers in Lagos and Abuja and serves a wide spectrum of customers
with over 70 carriers and internet service providers. MDC
aims to expand its current operations not only across in
Nigeria, but throughout
West Africa and become the leading
data center operator in the region. For more information,
please visit medallioncom.com.
About iColo
iColo designs, builds, and operates state
of the art carrier neutral data centres to serve a broad spectrum
of clients – telecom carriers, ISPs and peering points, IT and
cloud providers, content providers, enterprise, and financial
services customers. These data centres are highly connected
hubs and provide co-location services including power, security,
network access, redundancy, space, and precision cooling to its
customers. iColo is part of Digital Realty (DLR) with 291
data centres in 24 countries across six continents. To learn
more about iColo, visit icolo.io or follow us on
LinkedIn and Twitter.
About 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market
Intelligence
451 Research is a leading information
technology research and advisory company focusing on technology
innovation and market disruption. More than 100 analysts and
consultants provide essential insight to more than 1,000 client
organizations globally through a combination of syndicated research
and data, advisory and go-to-market services, and live events.
Founded in 2000, 451 Research is a part of S&P Global
Market Intelligence.
About Seacom
SEACOM launched Africa's first broadband submarine cable
system along the continent's Eastern and Southern coasts in 2009.
Today SEACOM is the preferred partner for African businesses,
network carriers, and service providers. Through its
ownership of Africa's most
extensive ICT data infrastructure – including multiple subsea
cables and a resilient, continent-wide IP-MPLS network – SEACOM
provides a full suite of flexible, scalable, and high-quality
communications and cloud solutions that enable the growth of the
continent's economy. SEACOM is privately owned and operated,
allowing the company the agility to rapidly tailor-make and deploy
new services, commercial models, and infrastructure in response to
customer requirements, without the red tape or hidden costs often
prevalent in this industry.
About iSAT Africa
iSAT Africa is an integrated communications
services provider specializing in broadcasting and rural
connectivity, fixed and mobile satellite solutions, MPLS in
Africa and Middle East. iSAT Africa's various solutions including
Terrestrial and Satellite Solutions, are backed by powerful
Satellites, African Teleports and Headend infrastructure.
iSAT Africa has its POP,
integrated with fiber and satellite services, in more than 30
countries in Africa connecting to
the rest of world. Its innovative solutions and resilient
network are used by different verticals including Governments,
TELCOS, media, multinationals, network companies and
ISPs.
For Additional Information
Media Contacts
Helen
Bleasdale
Digital Realty
+44 7500 044027
hcbleasdale@digitalrealty.com
Investor Relations
John
Stewart / Jim Huseby
Digital Realty
+1 (415) 738-6500
InvestorRelations@digitalrealty.com
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains
forward-looking statements which are based on current
expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to
differ materially, including statements related to the African
market, development plans in Africa, including Nigeria, Kenya and Mozambique, PlatformDIGITAL®, the company's
strategy, expected growth in digital transformation, and customer
demand. For a list and description of such risks and
uncertainties, see the reports and other filings by the company
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company
disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
1 International Finance Corporation, World Bank
Group: e-Conomy Africa 2020: Africa's $180
Billion Internet Economy Future
2 World Bank: Achieving Broadband Access for All in
Africa Comes With a $100 Billion
Price Tag
3 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market
Intelligence, 'African datacenter growth, Part 1: You ain't seen
nothing yet', May 2020
4 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market
Intelligence, 'African datacenter growth, Part 2: Cash and
connectivity, the lifeblood', May
2020
5 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market
Intelligence, 'African datacenter growth, Part 2: Cash and
connectivity, the lifeblood', May
2020
6 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market
Intelligence Datacenter KnowledgeBase, Q4 2020, March 2021
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SOURCE Digital Realty