- The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group's board of directors has approved a €9.51 million ($10.5 million) loan to the East African nation of Comoros to build and operate a new data centre, an existing secondary data centre, and an incubator to improve conditions for digital innovation and entrepreneurship.
- With a total project cost of €22.53 million ($24.9 million), the African Development Fund, the Bank’s concessional loan agency, provided €4.02 million ($4.4 million), while its Transition Support Facility contributed €5.49 million ($6 million).
- This initiative, which will set up a digital administration, is part of the Project to Support the Digitisation of the Comorian Economy. The project aims to improve key areas such as governance and user-facing public services.
The AfDB stated that a private operator will be hired to oversee the data centres' operation, marketing, maintenance, and expansion.
The project also includes establishing a digital administration platform, developing e-services, creating a digital public payment system, and an interoperability and data-sharing platform.
Emphasising digitisation, data management, and data protection, the AfDB mentioned that the project also provides funds to establish and operationalise a National Authority for the Protection of Personal Data and Access to Information.
The completion of the project is expected to deliver a “comprehensive and coherent” range of digital services that will meet the needs of the Comorian people and provide them with access to digitisation.
This move comes as the Internet penetration rate in the Comoros stood at 27.3% of the total population in January 2024, up 1.8% from January 2023.
In East Africa, the data centre market is expected to generate $1.09 billion in revenue by 2024, with Network Infrastructure dominating the market, accounting for $0.48 billion.
Meanwhile, in Kenya, another East African country, IXAfrica Data Centres and Schneider Electric launched a hyper-scale data centre in July 2024, arguably the largest and most technologically advanced in East Africa.
Kenya also received up to $1 billion from Microsoft and G42, with G42 collaborating with local partners to build a cutting-edge data centre campus powered by renewable geothermal energy and water conservation technology.
Ethiopia’s state-owned telco, Ethio Telecom, is also in strategic talks with a Chinese enterprise regarding the construction of a hyper-scale data centre.
Written by Omoruyi Edoigiawerie, a seasoned startup attorney with over a decade of experience. Learn more.