MTN Nigeria unveiled what it claims is the biggest Tier III data centre in West Africa and among the biggest in Africa on Tuesday.
The nine megawatt Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre is outfitted with cloud architecture that the telco says competes with products from Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.
The firm launched the first phase of the data center, which has a capacity of 4.5 megawatts. Depending on the processing power needed, the second phase will be implemented.
According to Yahaya Ibrahim, chief technical officer at MTN Nigeria, both phases are estimated to cost $235 million, with the cloud infrastructure alone costing $20 million.
During a press briefing, Roger Shutte, MTN Nigeria’s General Manager for Infrastructure, informed reporters that, depending on future demand, the facility might grow to 14 or even 20 megawatts.
Karl Toriola, the CEO of MTN Nigeria, spoke during the launch and expressed the company’s pride in reaching this milestone, characterising it as a step towards facilitating growth and bolstering Nigeria’s digital environment.
MTN hosts Africa’s first TM Forum Open API Spec Jam in Johannesburg
Techpression reported last month that MTN Group hosted Africa’s first TM Forum Open API Spec Jam in Johannesburg, bringing together 130 technical experts from 21 companies across three continents.
The four-day event aimed to develop API specifications that address real-world integration challenges and support scalable digital services in African markets.
Participants included platform experts, architects, developers, and ecosystem leaders from telecom operators, fintechs, and digital service providers. Businesses within MTN’s ecosystem, such as Chenosis and Bayobab, played an active role, providing insights on developer enablement and infrastructure scalability.
The gathering emphasised the importance of open APIs in enabling cross-industry capabilities, particularly in areas such as distributed ledger applications, fraud detection, identity verification, and financial services integration.
The assembly led to the co-development of eleven Open API specifications that were ready for deployment. These APIs were influenced by real-world use cases, ranging from data integrity and AI accessibility to fraud prevention and customer onboarding.
Each specification was based on the continent’s operating realities and the collective experience of those constructing and overseeing digital infrastructure throughout Africa.
“Africa’s digital future will be shaped by the standards we define today,” said Nikos Angelopoulos, MTN Group Chief Information Officer, during the event.
He added, “Hosting the first Open API Spec Jam on the continent is an important step in ensuring those standards reflect African realities and are built for scale. This Spec Jam has shown what becomes possible when regional expertise meets global collaboration. It affirms our belief that open standards are essential to building the digital infrastructure our markets need to grow, integrate and adapt.”
