Airtel Africa has unveiled Nxtra by Airtel, an innovative data centre business specifically tailored to address the burgeoning demand for trusted and sustainable data centre capacity across the continent.
Nxtra is strategically positioned to cater to the surging requirements of the rapidly expanding African digital economy.
Focusing on establishing one of Africa’s most extensive networks of data centres, Nxtra will roll out high-capacity facilities in key cities across Airtel Africa’s footprint.
These centres, in addition to existing edge sites, are engineered to accommodate the next wave of computing, offering multi-MW capacity in phased stages while ensuring compliance with stringent global security standards and guaranteeing ‘five nines’ availability.
Leveraging Airtel Africa’s extensive fibre network, Nxtra aims to provide secure and scalable integrated solutions to global hyper-scalers, large African enterprises, startups, SMEs, and governments.
By localizing data centre capacity, Nxtra promises improved access speed to digital services and reduced data management costs, fostering increased innovation and supporting Africa’s burgeoning tech talent pool.
Addressing data sovereignty requirements, Nxtra also enables the provision of more localized cloud services in countries where Airtel Africa operates.
The inaugural major facility in Lagos, Nigeria, is slated to deliver 34 MW of total power.
This cutting-edge centre is engineered to accommodate high-density racks, employing the latest construction practices to achieve a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.3 and is expected to go live by mid-2025.
To lead Nxtra’s charge, Airtel Africa has appointed Yashnath Issur, the former head of Global Data Centre Portfolio Management at Amazon Web Services, as the CEO.
With 16 years of industry experience, Yashnath has assembled a team of experts to execute the strategic vision of Nxtra.
Segun Ogunsanya, Airtel Africa’s Group CEO, highlighted the pressing need for rapid data centre expansion to bolster Africa’s digital economy.
He emphasized the company’s commitment to shaping the continent’s digital infrastructure, fostering opportunities for business growth, and driving economic prosperity.
Ogunsanya expressed confidence in Airtel Africa’s track record in delivering infrastructure projects across the continent, envisioning Nxtra’s next-generation data centres as pivotal in becoming the preferred partner for global customers and Africa’s emerging tech unicorns.
