The latest ‘Market Spotlight on Africa’ report published by England-based market intelligence service DC Byte points to significant growth in demand for data centres on the continent.

In exploring the secondary data centre markets in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco, DC Byte estimates that combined data centre investment in these countries will reach $3.5-billion by 2025.

This figure serves as a testament to the immense growth potential of these markets and the willingness of investors to seize the moment and capitalise on the promising African landscape.

The company says Africa’s journey toward digitalisation is remarkable, with an average annual increase of 20%.

The five countries highlighted in the report boast an average Internet penetration rate of 56%, signalling a growing digital presence and an expanding consumer base eager to embrace the benefits of a connected world.

Additionally, the cloud services market in the five listed countries is on the brink of “explosive growth” with a projected value of $3.2-billion by 2025.

Although the world has seen an insatiable appetite for digital services and growth of the data centre industry, DC Byte says the untapped potential in African countries represents a story of opportunity, innovation and transformative possibilities.

"These countries exhibit promising growth prospects, and we firmly believe that our Market Spotlight will serve as an indispensable resource for those seeking to enter or expand their presence in these dynamic markets,” says DC Byte CEO Ed Galvin.

Notably, South Africa has experienced the largest growth of the five countries, with 100% of all public cloud deployments being delivered through colocation.

Kenya is bidding to become the technology hub for the East African region, and the country has seen a sustained level of political stability compared with the other countries.

Egypt, meanwhile, is attracting significant investment from the Middle East, with major companies looking to start up operations in the country.

Nigeria, as a growing economy and population, will see an increase in data centre activity, as will Morocco, especially with it serving as a gateway to Europe through submarine cables connecting to the Iberian Peninsula and Marseille.

In the first quarter of this year, these markets comprised over 800 MW of total information technology (IT) power, including live and operational power as well as development pipeline. South Africa accounts for 408 MW of the total supply, while Nigeria and Egypt account for 140 MW and 118 MW, respectively, followed by Kenya at 79 MW and Morocco at 65 MW of supply.

Johannesburg and Cape Town are currently the only cities in Africa to have fully established cloud regions, with cloud operators including IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon Web Services and Google all having been deployed in South Africa.

In Nairobi, Lagos and Cairo hyperscalers have only installed local zones and Morocco is yet to record any public cloud activity to date.

IT capacity per million capita stands at 6.69 MW in South Africa, 1.43 MW in Morocco, 1.38 MW in Kenya, 1.03 MW in Egypt and 0.60 MW in Nigeria. This compares to IT capacity per million capita in the Netherlands of 82.18 MW, 47.21 MW in the UK and 31.83 MW in Germany.

DC Byte states that only 41% of the total market capacity has been fully developed in South Africa, indicating significant future growth and expansion potential.

For example, in Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco and Egypt, the live IT capacity accounts for a small segment of the total market capacity. Nigeria has 21% of the market capacity fully developed and fitted out, while Kenya and Morocco both have 19% of market capacity developed, followed by Egypt with the lowest proportion at 11% of market capacity observed as live.

These developments indicate a positive outlook for the data centre industry as these countries work towards enhancing their capacity and digital infrastructure to support the evolving digital landscape.