Strategic partnership expands secure colocation and cloud services across South Africa's key markets. (Image source: African Data Centres)

Africa Data Centres, part of pan-African technology group Cassava Technologies, has entered a commercial agreement with South African enterprise IT solutions provider Blue Turtle to expand colocation services in its Cape Town and Midrand data centres

The collaboration is set to enhance South Africa’s digital infrastructure landscape, offering scalable, secure, and compliant colocation and private hosted cloud solutions to local businesses.

Through this partnership, Blue Turtle will deploy multiple racks in both facilities, giving its enterprise customers access to top-tier digital infrastructure. This setup supports a broad shift among South African enterprises toward cloud adoption, digital transformation, and more agile, data-driven operations in a performance-optimised and regulation-compliant environment.

“This partnership enables us to offer customers trusted colocation and private cloud solutions in two of South Africa’s most strategic data centre locations,” said Jan Hitge, head of managed services at Blue Turtle. “As enterprise clients increasingly look for secure, scalable, and cost-efficient alternatives to on-premises infrastructure, we anticipate strong market uptake – a confidence reflected in the accelerated ramp-up timeline we’ve committed to.”

The services delivered through this partnership are expected to help enterprises update their IT strategies, address data sovereignty demands, and meet compliance requirements under South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). By offering low-latency connections, disaster recovery solutions, and high-availability colocation, the collaboration aims to support the growing demand for secure digital ecosystems.

“This agreement is about more than just filling racks; it’s about enabling digital transformation across the economy,” remarked Adil El Youssefi, CEO of Africa Data Centres. “Blue Turtle brings a strong client base and the ability to scale rapidly, making them an ideal partner in our mission to deliver secure, resilient, and sustainable digital infrastructure across South Africa. As demand for trusted infrastructure continues to climb, we will work towards this partnership evolving to support broader cloud initiatives, edge computing, and AI-ready infrastructure deployments.”

The alliance also strengthens Africa Data Centres’ ability to serve the enterprise sector by leveraging Blue Turtle’s local market presence and established reputation for delivering effective IT solutions. As Africa Data Centres continues to grow its footprint across the continent, partnerships like this one help reinforce South Africa’s leadership position in Africa’s tech and cloud ecosystem.

Africa Data Centres operates the largest interconnected and neutral data centre platform across the continent. With support from partners like Blue Turtle, the company aims to drive the next stage of enterprise transformation, powering critical services and digital progress throughout South Africa.

Kaspersky unveils eSIM Store offering worldwide data access for seamless travel connectivity. (Image source: Kaspersky)

Kaspersky has introduced its new eSIM store, a digital solution designed to simplify internet access for travellers by offering convenient, cost-effective global data plans

With coverage in over 150 countries and more than 2,000 flexible plans, the service is geared toward both leisure and business users seeking reliable internet without physical SIM cards.

According to GSMA, the production of devices compatible with eSIM has grown tenfold in just five years. By 2028, around half of all mobile connections worldwide are projected to run on eSIM technology. The growing appeal is largely due to the convenience it offers — eliminating the need for SIM swaps while ensuring continuous access on the move.

To address this market shift, Kaspersky’s eSIM Store connects users to global telecom providers via a user-friendly interface that allows quick plan selection, purchase, top-ups, and management of data usage.

A smarter way to stay connected

With Kaspersky’s eSIM Store, users can avoid roaming fees and enjoy uninterrupted connectivity throughout their travels. The platform helps users bypass physical SIM hassles and unreliable public Wi-Fi networks, while providing transparency, competitive pricing, and ease of setup.

An eSIM not only reduces costs but also removes the need to share personal information with local vendors while abroad. Travellers can connect instantly upon arrival — either through immediate activation or by scheduling their data plan in advance.

Flexible and easy to use

The platform allows users to filter plans based on destination (individual countries or grouped regions) and choose between expiring or non-expiring data options — depending on the length and nature of their trip. All plans come with real-time data tracking and alerts, helping travellers avoid running out of data unexpectedly. Users can also manage multiple international destinations with a single eSIM installation that lasts a lifetime.

Kaspersky’s eSIM Store is powered by BNESIM Limited, an award-winning global eSIM service provider operating since 2017.

“At Kaspersky we are constantly keeping up with latest trends shaping our digital habits, and eSIM is definitely one of them. eSIM technology greatly simplifies travelling abroad, allowing people to stay connected and not worry about issues like roaming charges. We know from our own experience how important it is to stay in touch with your family or colleagues when you are on a trip, so we designed Kaspersky eSIM Store for all types of travellers to ensure instant access to eSIM data plans wherever they go, as well as to provide a safe and positive digital experience,” – said Mikhail Gerber, Executive Vice President, Consumer Business, Kaspersky.

SMART Zambia brings high-speed internet to underserved Muchinga communities. (Image source: SMART Zambia)

In a major step toward digital inclusion, the SMART Zambia Muchinga team, in partnership with the Shiwangandu Town Council, has successfully rolled out Starlink high-speed internet to nine critical locations across the district

The effort aims to close the connectivity gap for underserved and previously unconnected communities.

Among the newly connected sites are six healthcare facilities, a secondary school, the civic center, and the district health office—bringing essential digital access to institutions vital for community well-being and development.

This deployment represents a key milestone in improving digital infrastructure in Muchinga Province, with far-reaching impacts on healthcare delivery, educational advancement, and local economic empowerment.

Provincial principal head of ICT, Francis Sangale, noted that the team collaborated closely with Mr. Itayi Mudekwa, Systems Analyst at Shiwangandu Town Council, to ensure successful installation at all sites.

Stefano Resi of Nokia highlights South Africa’s strengths, challenges and future role in Africa’s expanding data centre landscape

Stefano Resi, head of Data Centre sales for Middle East and Africa at Nokia, sharing insights into South Africa’s leadership role in Africa’s evolving data centre ecosystem, its unique advantages, current challenges and the road ahead for digital infrastructure across the continent

South Africa has long been a digital powerhouse on the continent, but as infrastructure demand accelerates, its role is expanding in new and significant ways.

With more than 30 million sq km, 54 countries and over 1.5 billion people, Africa represents a complex digital ecosystem—not a singular market. It is home to rising data centre activity in Nigeria, Kenya, Djibouti, Morocco and Egypt, but South Africa continues to stand apart.

According to Stefano Resi, “South Africa stands out because it is the only country connecting the two oceans and it serves as the gateway to the entire sub-Saharan region.”

But it is not just about geography. “Location alone does not define leadership,” Resi explained. “What sets the country apart is its mature legal framework, education system, and accessible business environment. These factors all contribute to an ecosystem primed for digital innovation.”

South Africa’s position as a key landing point for major undersea cables such as 2Africa and Equiano enhances its connectivity, while cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town are becoming magnets for hyperscale and colocation developments.

“These factors combine to make South Africa a fertile environment for large-scale data centre investment,” added Resi. “Already, Johannesburg and Cape Town are hosting an expanding constellation of high-capacity facilities.”

Data centre design has also evolved. While earlier models focused on simple storage and compute, modern facilities are driven by hyperscalers like AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Traffic now flows heavily within the data centre (east-west), requiring intelligent switching, dynamic architecture and automation.

This transformation aligns with the rise of latency-sensitive services such as augmented reality, industrial IoT and autonomous systems—services that demand a new kind of infrastructure.

“South Africa, with its dispersed urban centres and vast geography, is uniquely positioned to build a tiered architecture of core and edge data centres,” Resi explained. “These smaller edge facilities will be critical to delivering low-latency services to end users across the country.”

Yet, power instability remains a persistent challenge. Data centres consume vast amounts of electricity, and South Africa’s energy volatility poses a threat.

“Power is the Achilles heel of the digital (r)evolution in South Africa,” noted Resi. “However, this challenge can become an opportunity by accelerating the adoption of green energy sources. There needs to be a national-level commitment to energy stability if we are to meet future AI-driven demand.”

The industry must also prepare for the impact of AI. Unlike traditional workloads, AI applications require new cooling, hardware and networking standards.

“AI will reshape how we design data centres,” concluded Resi. “Inference and learning workloads place different demands on hardware, cooling, layout and obviously new network design and specifications.”

He believes South Africa will remain a central pillar in Africa’s digital transformation. “In a first phase by providing directly the data centre infrastructure for less digitalized countries, however in a second phase, when these countries will be accelerating their digital path, South Africa will continue to be the Hub and the guiding reference for the continent’s digital Agenda.”