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South Africa, Nigeria Account For 60% Of Total Data Centre Space In Africa

South Africa, Nigeria Account For 60% Of Total Data Centre Space In Africa

From Biz Tech Africa

TCL (Tariff Consultancy Ltd), specialists in Data Centre pricing, has now published a revised edition of its Data Centre Africa report, last published in 2012, with a significant increase in new space taking place in Nigeria and South Africa – with those two countries accounting for 60 per cent of total Data Centre space in Africa.

TCL forecasts that Data Centre space will amount to 107,000 square metres in Africa as of the beginning of 2015, and is forecast to grow by 7 per cent per annum over the 5 year period from 2015 to 2020.

It discovers that new Carrier Neutral Data Centre space is being created for the first time since 2012 – with new high specification facilities introduced in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria & Tunisia, with higher pricing and high density applications.

It also finds that the average size of African Data Centre facility has increased from 563 m2 (2012) up to 725 m2 (2014), but the average size remains smaller than in Europe or in North America.

TCL also finds that the new high quality facility space is creating higher average rack space pricing – with average pricing now costing USD $748 per rack per month across the African continent, as of the beginning of 2015.

Selected Data Centre providers in Africa are offering multiple facilities across different countries, including Internet Solutions (IS), MTN, Telkom and Vodacom. Providers such as IS and Telkom are expanding their geographical Data Centre coverage in Africa through acquisition, with Telkom in the process of acquiring ICT provider BCX which has its own Data Centre footprint.

But Carrier Based Data Centre facilities – owned by a Telecoms Provider – still accounts for almost half of all raised floor space in Africa, but space for the Carrier Neutral Data Centre segment is now increasing quickly from a relatively low base.

Read more at Biz Tech Africa