A new focus report, produced by Oxford Business Group (OBG) in partnership with the Africa Data Centres Association (ADCA), will highlight the opportunities for investors to help establish an ICT ecosystem that will be key in driving the continent’s economic transformation.

The report represents OBG’s continued collaboration with ADCA, constituting the second edition of the “Data Centres in Africa Focus Report” published in 2021 which explored the urgent need for more facilities offering these services to be rolled out against a backdrop of rising demand from industry players operating in the region’s increasingly digitised economy and significant capacity shortfalls.

With competition for investment set to be fierce in the post-pandemic era, the first edition had analysed Africa’s strengths, led by its rapidly growing, youthful, internet-connected population.

It had noted that since most Africans access the internet via mobile devices, the continent may well be able to bypass some of the traditional stages of industrial development in its uptake of new technologies.

In the new edition, subscribers will find extensive coverage of the progress achieved in mobile connectivity and international internet bandwidth, and the evolution of initiatives to establish world-class data centres across Africa.

The report will track the steps taken by a number of African governments to draw up digital-first policy agendas in moves that are expected to galvanise growth and create jobs.

It will shine a light on the dissemination of data centres at a time when countries are keen to enhance their connectivity infrastructure and local content development to boost digital transformation and advance technologies such as AI, cloud, and edge computing across Africa.

The report will also examine the importance placed on embedding sustainability principles in the development of the ICT ecosystem from the early stages, with a particular focus on solutions that ensure energy efficiency in data centres.

Subscribers will benefit from in-depth case studies and viewpoints by representatives from key industry player, including a contribution from Ayotunde Coker, Chairman, African Data Centres Association (ADCA) and CEO of Rack Center, in which he explains why the time is ripe for the DC industry to scale up across the continent.

"The last year has seen an acceleration of investments in critical connectivity infrastructure and the dissemination of data centres across the continent with operators expanding their footprint to power the exponential growth in digitalisation and data content consumption fuelled by the Covid-19 pandemic. With greater installed capacity, we are seeing ever stronger fundamentals that favour Africa as a destination for data centres."

Karine Loehman, OBG’s Managing Director for Africa, said that with the Covid-19 pandemic having accelerated digitalisation, efforts were underway to attract the investment needed to unlock the continent’s full digital potential, with areas such as ICT upskilling and infrastructure rollouts seen as priorities.

“Digital technology is expected to play a multifaceted role in steering Africa’s economic development, helping to improve its competitiveness, facilitate the overhaul of public services and strengthen food security,” she said.

“Our research confirms that investors are already giving Africa’s digital economy an injection of the capital required, despite the somewhat challenging environment. With broadband internet access is seen as a key enabler of the digital economy and still lacking across much of Africa, we expect demand for DC services to gather momentum in the medium term.”

The first edition of the “Data Centres in Africa Focus Report” is available to view and download at https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/news/focus-report-how-africa-positioned-destination-data-centres

The study on Africa’s DC industry forms part of a series of tailored reports that OBG is currently producing with its partners, alongside other highly relevant, go-to research tools, including a range of country-specific Growth and Recovery Outlook articles and interviews.