Nigeria’s leading telecommunications corporation, MTN Nigeria, has unveiled its new data center scheduled for completion by December 2024. MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola showcased the facility in a LinkedIn post, highlighting its impressive features: 1,500 racks, Tier IV certification, and advanced connectivity with a 7-degree transmission. Once finished, the company boasted, it will be West Africa’s largest data center.

While specific power consumption details were not disclosed, estimates suggest the data center could consume between 2MW and 5MW, contingent on Power Utilization Efficiency estimates.

Toriola said, “The data center is designed to enhance our capacity, enabling swift response to market demands and supporting Nigerian businesses, aligning with our Ambition 2025 strategy.”

He underscored MTN’s commitment to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles, noting the facility’s eco-friendly design with efficient cooling systems using both traditional and renewable energy sources. The data center project is led by Huawei, a global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices.

Currently, MTN operates a Tier III data center in Lagos. The new Tier IV facility will significantly enhance support for Nigerian businesses, enabling cloud services and improving operational capabilities.

Nigeria presently hosts eight Tier III data centers, including those owned by 21st Century, Galaxy Backbone, Guaranty Trust Bank, MainOne’s MDXI, Open Access Data Center, and Rack Centre. With MTN’s new Tier IV facility, Nigeria will have five Tier IV data centers.