Lagos Tops Africa’s Investment Destination for Digital Infrastructure
Emma Okonji
Technology experts who spoke at a virtual conference on the impact of growing investment in data centres in Africa have recognised Lagos State as the highest investment destination for digital infrastructure.
The experts who commended the state for topping the list of investment destination in the continent, also recognised the leading role Lagos was playing in driving technology investments.
The conference which was organised by Digital Infra Africa, had its panel session that featured MainOne’s CEO, Funke Opeke; CEO, Raxio Group, Robert Mullins; CEO, Teraco, Jan Hnizdo; and the Chief Marketing Officer/VP, International Business Development at the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC), Mike Last.
The panelists who are market leaders, noted the spate of acquisitions and new entrants within the past six months including Equinix, MainOne’s new parent company, Digital Realty, Cassava Technologies and most recently, Google/WIOCC.
According to them, “As a result, growth in investments in the Data Centre market on the continent has become exponential. Such investments continue to be fuelled by the growth of broadband access and data consumption across the continent’s large economies, of which Nigeria is the largest, and Lagos is the commercial nerve centre.”
Opeke said: “When you look at the connected population and the growth potential of the numbers that remain unconnected, we see a large opportunity for growth in data consumption levels, and this is attracting global market players. MainOne is market leader in Lagos already and we will continue to make investments with our new parent company Equinix to remain at the forefront of the increasing digitalisation happening on the continent.”
The views of the panelists were in line with the recently published statistics on investments flowing into the technology sector on the African continent.
The panelists noted that Lagos State government had actively championed the initiatives and investments in technology by creating an enabling environment for businesses to flourish, and also by providing active support to investors in the state through its numerous programmes and initiatives.
“The effort is bearing fruit, as in the last one month, Lagos has attracted over $1 billion worth of committed investment from technology giants like Microsoft who opened its new African Development Centre in the state. Google, last week, launched its state-of-the-art submarine internet cable in Lagos, and Equinix also recently completed its acquisition of MainOne with a $320 million deal,” the panelists said.
