
Safaricom Ethiopia is building a USD 100 million data centre in Addis Ababa as it begins to launch operations in the country, Addis Fortune reported. It said the structure was assembled in China before making its way to the capital via Djibouti. Executives said the data centre is part of the USD 300 million investment it has budgeted for the first year of operation.
The company plans to install similar data centres in Adama and Dire Dawa as it scales up operations, according to Pedro Rabacal, chief technology and information officer at Safaricom Ethiopia. The company did not share specifics but Rabacal said the facility was built over a number of weeks before being delivered to the capital via boat.
The deployment comes as Safaricom looks to launch commercial services in the country and become Ethiopia’s second telecoms operator. The consortium, including development finance agency CDC Group, paid USD 850 million for the licence and plans to invest more than USD 8 billion in the country’s digital infrastructure. It will officially launch services by June.