Boost for Ghana’s digital infrastructure: $30m Investment fuels PAIX Data Centre expansion
In a significant step to boost Ghana’s digital infrastructure, PAIX Data Centre has expanded its capacity to 1.2 MW, positioning itself as a leading data centre in Ghana.
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The expansion is expected to propel the country into the top tier of digital economies in Africa, fostering new business opportunities and driving economic transformation.
It will also help internet service providers (ISPs), cloud providers and enterprises fully take advantage of robust digital infrastructure and improved connectivity, enabling the African business community to thrive in the digital era.
Africa50, the Pan-African infrastructure investor and asset manager, invested over $30 million in growth equity in PAIX Data Centres to support the company's expansion into new markets and upgrade current facilities.
The upgraded facility boasts state-of-the-art infrastructure and robust security measures, ensuring optimal performance and reliability for mission-critical applications and services.
The data centre also features advanced cooling and waste management systems and the increased integration of renewable energy as a power source to improve environmental impact.
The strategic location in Accra offers low latency connectivity to major regional and international network routes and subsea cables, further enhancing its services' overall efficiency and performance.
Speaking at the launch of the newly expanded PIAX facility in Accra on Tuesday, the Deputy Minister for Communications and Digitisation, Charles Acheampong, commended the two parties involved in the data centre expansion for their commitment and investment in the country.
Transformation
He said as Africa and the world embrace digital transformation to enhance their socio-economic development, the explosive growth and aggregation of data has been one of the relevant topics for discussions at international fora.
“Data is now the ‘newly found Gold and Oil’ due to the high economic value of it. Data will drive decision-making and where the resources should be prioritised to impact the livelihoods of people and economic growth of the country.
With data being the centre of economics, there is an urgent need for governments and the private sector to collaborate to derive the maximum socio-economic benefits associated with data utilisation and to also pay attention to how data is securely stored and used,” Mr Acheampong said.
“The expansion of the PAIX Data Centre facility is important to the people and government of Ghana because it will enhance our rank on the Data Centre Map of Africa, create jobs and technology transfer to our people and afford greater opportunity for businesses to host their data in a secured environment, which will, in turn, drive down their costs of data, hosting and guarantee security,” he added.
Soaring data consumption
Demand for reliable and scalable data centres in Africa is projected to surge to three times the available capacity within the next two years.
Industry estimates suggest that data consumption will increase by 40 per cent annually until 2025.
The Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure at Africa50 and Chairman of the Board of PAIX, Raza Hasnani, said to cater for the soaring data consumption, the current capacity of 250MW will need to be boosted to 1,200MW by 2030.
Therefore, he said the urgency of increasing the data centre capacity was clear.
He explained that robust digital infrastructure has been foundational for the rapid growth of the digital financial services industry, enabling the expansion of financial access to people who have long been excluded from traditional financial services.
Commitment
The Managing Director, PAIX Data Centres, Ghana, Bright Tawiah, said the expansion reaffirms the company’s dedication to providing best-in-class data centre solutions to our customers in Accra and beyond.
As one of Africa's digital economy hotspots, Accra plays a vital role in driving innovation and growth across various industries.
We are proud to be at the forefront of this transformation, enabling businesses to thrive in today's increasingly connected world,” he stated.
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