Internet

Can Nairobi become East Africa’s cloud hub?

iXAfrica welcomes Gewape to NBOX1. (Image source: iXAfrica)

iXAfrica Data Centers, described as East Africa’s first hyperscale, carrier-neutral and AI-ready data centre platform, has announced that Gewape Cloud Group has joined its NBOX1 facility in Nairobi, reinforcing the city’s growing position as a strategic digital infrastructure hub for enterprise cloud, AI and interconnection services

Gewape Cloud Group delivers sovereign cloud infrastructure for emerging markets across Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas. Through locally focused operations and specialist brands, the company provides compliant, market-aligned cloud environments designed for regulated and mission-critical workloads.

By establishing operations at iXAfrica’s NBOX1 campus, Gewape Cloud is expanding Nairobi’s role as a core East African cloud hub while broadening its own regional presence. The move supports continued growth across both current and future markets.

The company’s active cloud regions currently include Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, South Africa, Singapore and Brazil. Planned expansion markets include Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ghana.

By selecting iXAfrica, Gewape Cloud said it will gain access to future-ready infrastructure and establish its primary hub in Kenya.

As cloud adoption advances, enterprises and regulated sectors are increasingly seeking infrastructure that offers local control, resilience, regulatory responsiveness and low latency. Against this backdrop, the combination of Gewape Cloud’s sovereign model and iXAfrica’s carrier-neutral platform is expected to support trusted digital growth.

For iXAfrica, the collaboration also highlights NBOX1’s role beyond traditional colocation, positioning the facility as a digital hub for cloud on-ramps, AI capacity, enterprise interconnection and regional digital services.

Munyengabo Dushime said: “True data sovereignty goes beyond local servers; it means empowering enterprises to scale freely across regions, without being confined by a single provider or cloud location. With iXAfrica’s NBOX1 facility as our latest East African Region, we are further strengthening our rapidly expanding multi-region cloud fabric”.

Snehar Shah said: “Welcoming Gewape Cloud to NBOX1 reflects the growing demand for high-performance, locally relevant infrastructure. This partnership supports our mission to enable cloud, AI, and interconnection growth across East Africa.”

He added: “With rising demand for compliant cloud environments and scalable digital platforms, such partnerships are central to enterprise modernization and digital resilience in emerging markets”.

Gewape said it offers a turnkey Sovereign Stack that helps enterprises avoid major upfront capital expenditure while delivering high-performance computing and multi-homed, high-speed connectivity. The company added that iXAfrica’s carrier-neutral ecosystem strengthens its multi-cloud approach, giving customers flexibility to integrate workloads across networks of their choice.

According to Gewape, its platform provides operational independence, cross-border active-active resilience with sub-60-second recovery, and local pricing structures that help shield clients from foreign exchange risk, while ensuring data remains within the customer’s legal jurisdiction without sacrificing enterprise-grade performance or creating single-vendor lock-in.

Eurobond backs Africa fibre growth

Liquid closes US$660mn refinancing as oversubscribed Eurobond backs Africa’s digital growth.

A 2.5-times oversubscribed Eurobond issued in a cautious and risk-selective market has highlighted strong investor confidence in Africa’s digital infrastructure sector and the long-term growth prospects of Liquid Intelligent Technologies

Liquid Intelligent Technologies has completed a US$660 million debt financing package, including a US$300mn Eurobond that attracted demand 2.5 times above the amount offered. The result signals robust institutional appetite for one of Africa’s largest independent fibre network operators.

The bond, listed on Euronext Dublin and issued under Rule 144A/Regulation S, formed the central element of a broader refinancing and debt repayment programme undertaken by Liquid, the pan-African fibre and technology business owned by Cassava Technologies.

According to the company, the transaction retires previous debt obligations, extends the maturity profile of its borrowings and resets the balance sheet on terms that provide management with greater financial flexibility to accelerate growth and reinforce Liquid’s role in Africa’s digital transformation.

The strong level of demand, despite a challenging capital markets backdrop, suggests investor confidence in Liquid’s underlying assets. These include a 115,000-kilometre fibre network spanning more than 25 countries, expanding cloud and cybersecurity revenues, and a strategic position at the intersection of connectivity and AI infrastructure.

The Eurobond was accompanied by syndicated ZAR and USD term loan facilities. A US$210mn ZAR syndicated term loan, arranged by Nedbank, Rand Merchant Bank, Standard Bank and the International Finance Corporation, provides a natural currency hedge against Liquid’s significant South African revenues.

A further US$150 million syndicated term loan was provided by Ninety One through its own funds and the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund, together with The Mauritius Commercial Bank Limited (MCB).

Alongside these facilities, Cassava Technologies injected US$195mn in fresh equity. Combined, the instruments retire prior debt obligations, lengthen maturities, improve balance sheet flexibility and place net leverage on a downward path.

Anchor orders for the Eurobond were placed by leading development finance institutions, including DEG. Their participation indicates confidence in the developmental importance of Liquid’s digital infrastructure across emerging markets.

Credit rating momentum also supported the transaction. Fitch Ratings upgraded Liquid Intelligent Technologies ahead of launch, while Moody's placed the issuer on Review for Upgrade.

J.P. Morgan, Rand Merchant Bank and Standard Bank acted as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners.

"This refinancing is a significant milestone, not just financially, but strategically. A stronger, more sustainable balance sheet gives Liquid the platform it needs to pursue the full scope of digital transformation opportunities across Africa, from fibre and cloud to cyber security and AI-enabled infrastructure. The quality of the institutions that participated in this transaction is a statement of confidence in Liquid’s fundamentals and in Africa’s digital growth story," remarked Hardy Pemhiwa, Group CEO, Liquid Intelligent Technologies.

NTT DATA powers Africa's digital future with 400 Gbps peering

NTT DATA becomes Africa's first network operator to activate 400 Gbps peering at JINX

NTT DATA has achieved a major milestone in Africa's digital infrastructure by becoming the first network operator on the continent to activate 400 Gbps peering at the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX)

As one of the world’s fastest-growing digital regions, Africa continues to see rising internet usage, expanding submarine cable networks, and increasing adoption of digital services. Against this backdrop, investment in high-capacity, high-performance exchange infrastructure is becoming essential to support innovation, economic growth, and broader digital inclusion.

The introduction of 400 Gbps peering represents a step forward for both NTT DATA’s network capabilities and the development of Africa's internet exchange landscape. It also highlights how South Africa’s exchange ecosystem is aligning with global standards, enabling higher-capacity and lower-latency connectivity to meet growing demand.

Established in 1996, JINX was the continent's first internet exchange point and remains a key component of regional digital infrastructure, operating across several data centres in Johannesburg. It is managed by the Internet Exchange Point of South Africa, a division of the Internet Service Providers' Association. Through its broadband network operations, NTT DATA plays a central role in linking access networks, content providers, and enterprise platforms.

“Africa’s Internet traffic is growing rapidly and the demand for scalable, resilient and low-latency connectivity continues to increase," said JC Burger, director of infrastructure engineering and operations at NTT DATA in South Africa.

"Establishing 400Gbps peering at JINX is a strategic investment that strengthens our ability to deliver high-performance connectivity while supporting the long-term growth of Africa’s digital economy."

The upgrade is expected to deliver clear benefits for businesses, including improved performance during peak traffic periods, increased capacity to manage sustained data growth, and enhanced reliability for digital services.

This development underlines South Africa's readiness for hyperscale peering while reinforcing NTT DATA’s focus on building scalable, carrier-grade infrastructure. Through continued investment, the company is helping to create a more resilient, high-performance internet ecosystem and supporting digital transformation efforts across the continent.

Africa Data Centres boosts Gauteng connectivity with Oni-Tel

Oni-Tel strengthens Africa Data Centres fibre network. (Image source: African Data Centres)

Africa Data Centres, part of Cassava Technologies, has entered into a partnership with Oni-Tel Fibre Networks to enhance connectivity across its Gauteng-based facilities

The agreement will see Oni-Tel provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity to Africa Data Centres’ campuses in Midrand and Samrand via its Infinity fibre interconnection platform.

Designed specifically for data centre interconnection, the solution is built on a resilient network with direct links to key data centre hubs across Gauteng. This enables customers to access high-capacity bandwidth, fast data transfer speeds, and secure, carrier-grade performance, meeting the uptime and reliability demands of modern digital operations.

“As enterprises accelerate cloud adoption, AI deployment, and data-intensive workloads, they need dependable, scalable connectivity within trusted local data centres. By partnering with Oni-Tel, we’re giving our customers access to enhanced fibre infrastructure that supports their growth and innovation, while maintaining secure, enterprise-grade environments for businesses navigating South Africa’s digital economy,” said Adil El Youssefi, CEO of Africa Data Centres.

As the operator of Africa’s largest interconnected and vendor- as well as cloud-neutral data centre platform, Africa Data Centres will further strengthen its service offering through this collaboration. The partnership enhances network performance and broadens connectivity choices within its facilities, allowing customers to benefit from improved interconnection flexibility, high-availability infrastructure, seamless bandwidth delivery, and scalable solutions aligned with evolving business needs.

“Our partnership with Africa Data Centres enables us to deliver our premium fibre interconnection solution into some of the most strategically important data centre hubs in Gauteng. Through Infinity, customers benefit from ultra-low latency connectivity, scalable capacity, and secure, carrier-grade infrastructure designed to keep their businesses ahead in an extremely competitive digital landscape,” said Ellisha Gobind, chief Commercial Officer at Oni-Tel.

Africa Data Centres’ facilities continue to act as critical interconnection hubs across the continent, serving a wide range of users including enterprises, cloud providers, financial institutions, mobile network operators, and fixed network operators. The addition of Oni-Tel’s dark fibre solution further strengthens the carrier-neutral ecosystem in Gauteng, offering customers enhanced network performance, greater speed, and expanded connectivity options.

With demand for secure and high-performance digital infrastructure continuing to grow, Africa Data Centres remains committed to developing a robust, interconnected platform that supports enterprise innovation and sustainable growth across South Africa and the broader region.

Liquid connects KwaZulu-Natal schools with reliable internet access

delivering_stable_internet_access_to_learners

Each school receives internet connectivity with speeds of no less than 10 Mbps and a 500GB fair usage allowance. (Image source: African Data Centres)

Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a subsidiary of Cassava Technologies, has expanded its connectivity initiative in South Africa by linking 45 public schools in KwaZulu-Natal, specifically in Umlazi and Pinetown

This effort is delivering stable internet access to thousands of learners and educators, while pushing the nationwide rollout to 65% completion and significantly contributing to efforts aimed at reducing the country’s digital divide.

Under the programme, each school receives internet connectivity with speeds of no less than 10 Mbps and a 500GB fair usage allowance. This enables both students and teachers to utilise digital platforms, stream educational content, and remain connected throughout the school day.

“Connectivity is a catalyst for change,” said Ziaad Suleman, CEO of Cassava Technologies in South Africa and Botswana. “By connecting schools in Umlazi and Pinetown, we are not only providing internet access; we are opening doors to opportunity, equipping learners to compete in a digital world, and strengthening communities through inclusive education.”

For many of the participating schools, this marks their first exposure to digital learning tools within the classroom. Students can now engage with online curricula, global knowledge resources, and research platforms, while educators benefit from enhanced teaching tools, improved administrative processes, and more effective communication methods. In underserved communities, the initiative is reshaping how education is delivered.

The rollout is part of Liquid’s wider national programme to connect 298 public service institutions, of which 194 have already been completed. These sites include schools, healthcare centres, libraries, and traditional authority offices, with implementation continuing in phases through to 2029. As part of its commitment, Liquid is also responsible for maintaining and securing the deployed connectivity infrastructure, ensuring consistent and reliable service.

As the initiative progresses, each additional connection supports the advancement of South Africa’s education system and contributes to building a more digitally inclusive society. By providing dependable infrastructure, Liquid is enabling learners to participate in the digital economy and ensuring broader access to opportunities across communities.

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