Safaricom Is Building A $100M Data Centre In Ethiopia

Safaricom is building a new $100m data centre in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, as it seeks to roll out commercial operations in the country mid this year.

The Company revealed in a Linkedin Post, that in their effort “to bringing the best telecom technology to Ethiopia” they have invested 100 Million USD in its first data centre in Addis.

Pedro Rabacal, chief technology officer at Safaricom Ethiopia, said the facility ‘started off in China’ and was built there over a number of weeks before being delivered to the capital via boat.

“The design was carried out between the Safaricom Ethiopia team and our Chinese supplier. The construction took place over a number of weeks in China and was put on a boat and was shipped to Djibouti and then transported to Addis Ababa,” he said

Rabacal added the company is investing around $300 million into the country in 2022 and more data centres will be rolled out as the network grows.

“We need a number of data centres across Ethiopia to be able to cover the whole territory. First, we will expand to Adama, then Dira Dawa, and then further out,” he said.

Safaricom operations in Ethiopia kicks in earnest after its consortium comprising of British development finance agency CDC Group and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation won the country’s telecommunications license with a bid of $850 million. The consortium is expected to invest over $8billion over the next decade making it the single largest FDI into Ethiopia to date.

Last month, Safaricom appointed 8 middle-level managers for the Ethiopia subsidiary. With a population of 100 million people, the country offers a viable investment for the largest telco in East and Central Africa.