from MARIA MACHARIA in Nairobi, Kenya
Kenya Bureau
NAIROBI, (CAJ News) – KENYA is strategically positioning itself as a continental technology hub with the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a momentous Nxtra by Airtel data centre.
To be located at Tatu City, the Africa Data Centre is set for completion in the first quarter of 2027 and is forecast to be the largest data centre in East Africa, with a capacity of 40MW.
The facility is hailed as a milestone for Kenya’s digital transformation and set to strengthen the country’s tech infrastructure and drive innovation across artificial intelligence (AI), fintech and healthcare, among others.
William Gitau, Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, presided over the ground-breaking ceremony, alongside Airtel Kenya and Nxtra executives.
“Kenya is ready for the digital demands of tomorrow,” Gitau said.
He said beyond strengthening business continuity and data security, the data centre will unlock innovation in AI, high-performance computing, fintech, healthcare, education, agriculture and public services.
“It is a major enabler of the government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) by driving digital inclusion, supporting enterprises and boosting Kenya’s competitiveness in the global digital economy,” Gitau said.
Nxtra by Airtel, the operator’s new data centre business, pledges to offer the largest network of secure, scalable and sustainable data centres in Africa.
Nxtra aims to expand to centres in major cities across local markets, boosting digital speeds and capacities and meeting data security and sovereignty requirements while enabling more local cloud services.
Besides the centre in Kenya, the first facility, boasting 38 MW of power, is under construction in Lagos, Nigeria.
Tatu City is a 5 000-acre, privately-funded, mixed-use city being developed near Nairobi and flagship project of Kenya’s Vision 2030.
– CAJ News