Critical underlying enabler of digital transformation is infrastructure and over the last few years in the West African region, there have been repetitive predictions of a future filled with explosive growth. MDXi Data Centre, a MainOne company registered in Nigeria, is accommodating this explosive growth in the region by providing carrier-neutral data centre facilities that allow its customers to adapt to market changes in real-time.
Robust connectivity with terrestrial and submarine cable access facilitates enhanced delivery of content, interconnection between global players and local operators, local delivery of Internet traffic and business continuity for our customers. MainOne celebrated 10 years of delivering connectivity services in West Africa. Ten years ago, the company launched its operations with the commissioning of the first private submarine cable on the West Coast of Africa. The next 10 years will be filled with opportunities for further growth and market expansion across the West African sub-region. Broadband penetration rates in the region are in the 40% range and as more people migrate online, infrastructure requirements will grow. Large investments to date in sub-Saharan African have been in South Africa, but we are starting to see more investments across many countries and we expect that a few billion dollars will be invested in data centers in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) in the next three to five years.