Equinix, formerly known as MainOne, has unveiled the expansion of its Lagos data center, LG2.3, to meet the rising demand for digital services in Nigeria. The expansion is part of the company’s broader efforts to enhance digital infrastructure across the region, particularly through three key data center projects currently underway in Nigeria. These include a new interconnection hub in Victoria Island, a 1000+ rack capacity facility in Lekki, and a data center in Port Harcourt. This expansion comes as internet consumption in Nigeria reached a historic 1 million terabytes in January, signaling a significant surge in demand for digital services.
The LG2.3 data center aims to provide state-of-the-art colocation and secure interconnection solutions to businesses in Nigeria and the broader region. Bruce Owen, President of EMEA at Equinix, expressed optimism about the impact of this expansion, stating that it would facilitate business growth and drive innovation across Nigeria. The expansion underscores Equinix’s commitment to enhancing Nigeria’s digital and sustainable future, a sentiment shared by Wole Abu, Managing Director of Equinix West Africa, who highlighted the vital role data centers play in supporting economic growth.
Equinix’s data centers are crucial for ensuring secure and reliable storage, processing, and management of digital data, essential for both businesses and governments. These centers have also proven pivotal in mitigating disruptions, like the undersea cable breaks in early 2024 that affected internet connectivity in Nigeria and neighboring West African countries. By hosting more localized content from global tech giants like Meta and Google, data centers significantly improve user experience and network efficiency, helping to safeguard against such outages.
Despite Nigeria having 16 data centers, experts indicate that the country still faces a $600 million gap in data center capacity. This shortfall highlights the growing need for more digital infrastructure to keep pace with the country’s expanding digital economy. As Africa’s digital adoption accelerates, Equinix’s investment in data center expansion positions Nigeria as a key player in the continent’s future digital growth.
Source: Business day