Vertiv and Nxtra are setting a new benchmark for data infrastructure in Africa

In a move set to reshape Africa’s data centre landscape, Vertiv, a global leader in critical digital infrastructure, has deepened its collaboration with Airtel Africa through its data centre division, Nxtra

The partnership begins in Nigeria, marking a major step toward Nxtra’s vision of building one of Africa’s largest networks of high-capacity data centres

The initiative underscores Africa’s growing need for robust digital infrastructure to support its rapidly expanding population and digital economy. Drawing from Nxtra’s extensive operational experience in India, the company aims to replicate its success in Africa by strategically establishing modern facilities in key cities.

“Nxtra has been a valued customer for nearly three decades,” said Karsten Winther, President of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Vertiv. “This next chapter in our collaboration demonstrates the power of combining local support in Africa with international manufacturing and innovation.”

The first of these projects, located in Nigeria, will feature a 42 MW facility developed through a four-phase rollout and expected to be fully operational by 2028. Vertiv will provide thermal management systems and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units with batteries, ensuring energy efficiency, scalability, and reliability.

“As we invest into high-capacity, high-quality data centres for Africa, it was crucial to partner with a vendor who combines global capabilities with a strong local presence,” said Yash Issur, CEO of Nxtra by Airtel Africa. “Vertiv’s extensive multinational expertise, coupled with their established service team in Africa, provides us the reliability and support we need. We’re particularly pleased to name Vertiv as a main vendor for the first project in Nigeria and extend a collaboration ranging from India to Africa.”

Vertiv’s established Nigerian service team will oversee commissioning, handover, and five years of maintenance, providing vital local support to ensure seamless long-term operations.

A vision for sustainable expansion

According to Wojtek Piorko, managing director for Africa at Vertiv, Africa’s “data-hungry” population is a driving force behind the demand for more data centres. “Our collaboration in Africa with Nxtra marks an important milestone in strengthening Africa’s critical digital infrastructure,” he said. “Together, we are bringing proven global expertise and advanced technology into Nigeria and beyond.”

The partnership not only boosts connectivity but also represents a commitment to sustainable growth. Vertiv’s solutions will enable Nxtra to meet the region’s energy and efficiency demands while supporting environmental goals.

Looking beyond Nigeria, Nxtra and Vertiv are already planning future data centre developments in other Airtel Africa markets. The Nairobi-based facility is projected to surpass the Nigerian site in scale, reinforcing the companies’ long-term ambition to establish a continent-wide digital backbone that fuels innovation, drives local economies, and enhances Africa’s global connectivity.

With this collaboration, Vertiv and Nxtra are setting a new benchmark for data infrastructure in Africa, one that blends global expertise, local empowerment, and sustainable innovation to power the continent’s digital future.

Raxio-Laser Light Team to transform digital access in markets home to half a billion people

Africa’s underserved online markets are poised for a major digital breakthrough as Raxio Group, a leading pan-African data centre operator, teams up with Laser Light Africa, the regional arm of the U.S.-based advanced digital network provider

The collaboration is set to bring faster, more affordable, and more reliable internet access to some of the continent’s fastest-growing economies.

The partnership, Raxio-Laser Light Team to transform digital access in markets home to half a billion people, will combine Raxio’s expanding network of Tier III carrier-neutral data centres with Laser Light’s advanced optical infrastructure. This alliance will provide high-speed digital connectivity across seven strategic African markets: Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda. Together, these countries represent a combined population of nearly 500 million people.

By hosting and routing data closer to users through Raxio’s state-of-the-art facilities and Laser Light’s global network, the partnership aims to reduce the cost of internet services, enhance reliability, and support Africa’s digital transformation across industries including finance, e-commerce, healthcare, education, and entertainment.

Laser Light’s technology integrates subsea, terrestrial, and satellite optical infrastructure into a single software-managed global platform capable of transmitting data at the speed of light. The company’s optical mesh network is engineered to handle massive data volumes efficiently while offering cloud solutions that meet the growing needs of modern enterprises and consumers.

Transformative benefits

As the demand for data continues to surge across the continent, African businesses and consumers still struggle with unreliable connections and high international bandwidth costs. The Raxio-Laser Light partnership aims to address these issues by delivering measurable improvements:

 *Reducing latency: Cutting transmission delays from hundreds of milliseconds to just a few, enabling real-time cloud computing, gaming, fintech, telemedicine, and AI-driven services.
 *Increasing reliability: Hosting applications in Tier III data centres designed for 99.982% uptime, equating to less than two hours of downtime per year.
 *Lowering costs: Through local caching and peering, wholesale bandwidth expenses could drop by up to 90%, ultimately lowering prices for end-users while increasing speeds.
 *Enhancing security: Fewer networks will handle private data during transit, reducing vulnerabilities.
 *Advancing sustainability: Laser Light’s optical transport technology, which relies on light instead of electricity for data transmission, consumes less power per unit of information while reducing the energy demand of long-distance routes.

Starting in Angola

The first rollout phase is scheduled for 2026, beginning in Angola, anchored by Raxio’s new data centre in Luanda. This facility will connect to the country’s subsea cable landings and the Angonix Internet Exchange Point, with subsequent expansions planned across all Raxio data centre locations.

“Digital infrastructure is the backbone of economic transformation,” said Robert Skjodt, CEO of Raxio Group. “By combining Raxio’s state-of-the-art facilities with Laser Light’s global optical network, we are delivering a platform that will power innovation, investment, and job creation for decades to come.”

Building ecosystems and skills

Beyond improving connectivity, the initiative is expected to create job opportunities in construction, operations, and network management, while supporting training programmes that develop local expertise in Tier III operations, peering, and optical technologies.

The partnership’s core focus areas include:

 *Infrastructure integration: Deploying Laser Light’s optical mesh network, combining terrestrial fibre, subsea cables, modular data systems, and MEO satellite connectivity across Raxio’s infrastructure.
 *Interconnectivity expansion: Establishing Points of Presence (PoPs) and interconnection hubs in Raxio data centres to enhance regional and international traffic.
 *Edge enablement: Developing edge data centre strategies to bring cloud, IoT, AI, and enterprise services closer to users.
 *Regulatory alignment: Ensuring compliance with local data sovereignty, energy, and ICT standards across all markets.

Together, Raxio and Laser Light are setting the stage for a more connected, inclusive, and sustainable digital future, unlocking Africa’s full technological potential and enabling economic growth across the continent.

SEACOM unveils next-generation subsea cable. (Image source: SEACOM)

SEACOM, Africa’s pioneer in digital infrastructure, has unveiled SEACOM 2.0, a next-generation subsea cable system set to transform connectivity across the Indian Ocean Basin, Middle East, Mediterranean, and Southern Europe

Announced at Submarine Networks World 2025 in Singapore, the project represents a major step toward strengthening Africa’s position in the global digital economy while meeting rising demand for AI, cloud, and real-time data services.

Building on its legacy, SEACOM first made history in 2009 with the launch of the region’s first privately owned subsea cable, which reduced connectivity costs by 300% and accelerated growth in cloud services, fintech, and technology ecosystems. Now, as the Indian Ocean Basin—home to 2.9 billion people in 33 nations with a growing middle class and youthful demographics—faces rapid expansion, SEACOM 2.0 is designed to secure long-term infrastructure for the decades ahead.

By 2030, global networks are expected to support over 10 billion AI agents, with SEACOM 2.0 positioned as the backbone of this AI-powered transformation. Looking further ahead to 2050, when the world’s population is projected to reach 10 billion, the system is engineered to meet the demands of a region that will host half of humanity.

Unlike conventional systems, SEACOM 2.0 features a 48-fibre-pair design, optimised for high-capacity, low-latency AI workloads. Its cable landing stations will evolve into AI communication nodes, linking sovereign African AI infrastructure with global data hubs.

Beyond capacity, resilience is central to the project. Following recent subsea cable outages that highlighted vulnerabilities, SEACOM 2.0 introduces diversified routes closer to African shores and open, carrier-neutral landing points. This reduces risks, strengthens security, and ensures continuity of service—while positioning coastal nations as active custodians of global digital connectivity rather than passive endpoints.

For countries along its path, SEACOM 2.0 represents a growth catalyst:

• Boosting GDP: Subsea infrastructure has already raised African nations’ GDP per capita by more than 6%, with SEACOM 2.0 expected to multiply this impact.

• Enabling Smart Infrastructure: From AI-driven city planning to IoT-enabled ports, the network will power real-time analytics and edge computing.

• Supporting SMEs: By lowering the cost of enterprise-grade connectivity, it opens access for small businesses to cloud tools, digital marketplaces, and international customers.

The cable will also extend critical access to landlocked regions, including SADC and East African markets, reducing reliance on single routes and enabling countries to emerge as hubs for content and application providers. In today’s digital era, connectivity is no longer optional—it is the oxygen driving the AI age.

2025 CPR Manufacturing Report shows rising ransomware and cyber risks for global and African manufacturers

Check Point’s research, as detailed in its 2025 CPR Manufacturing Report, highlights rising cyber threats against the global manufacturing sector

The manufacturing industry is under increasing pressure from cyberattacks, with organisations facing an average of 1,585 weekly incidents in 2025 — a 30% increase year-over-year.

Africa’s industrial and manufacturing entities are not immune, experiencing an average of 1,872 attacks per week over the last four weeks, highlighting the growing global threat landscape.

Ransomware remains the dominant concern, inflicting losses that can reach hundreds of millions of dollars and, in severe cases, pushing companies into insolvency. Beyond financial impacts, cyberattacks disrupt production, delay shipments, erode customer trust, and attract regulatory scrutiny. As such, cybersecurity has become a core business risk, not merely an IT concern.

“Attackers know that every hour of halted production can cost millions. That’s why ransomware groups view manufacturers as prime targets: they don’t need to steal sensitive customer data when they can simply shut down operations and demand payment,” explained Lorna Hardie, regional director: Africa, Check Point Software Technologies.

Global examples illustrate the potential consequences. In 2023, a ransomware attack disrupted Clorox operations, leading to US$356mn in quarterly losses. Nucor, North America’s largest steel producer, had to halt production after a 2025 cyber breach. Sensata Technologies suffered delays in shipping and production due to ransomware, and sustained attacks forced Schumag AG into insolvency in 2024.

Supply chain connectivity further amplifies risk. Manufacturers rely on extensive networks of suppliers, global partners, and IoT/OT systems, meaning that one vulnerable link can compromise entire production lines. Criminal groups now sell access to manufacturing networks, giving ransomware affiliates direct paths into operations. In Africa, heavy reliance on Europe as a trading partner increases vulnerability, particularly with the EU’s NIS2 Directive imposing stricter security requirements on critical sectors. “African businesses must act now to comply with the EU's NIS2 Directive or risk losing valuable revenue streams through their European trading partners,” Hardie warned.

State-backed and hacktivist groups are also increasingly targeting manufacturers. Intellectual property theft, including drone blueprints, automotive designs, and defense-related technologies, has been on the rise. Politically motivated disruptions affect manufacturers tied to critical infrastructure, energy, and defense supply chains. Such incidents underscore that manufacturing security is not only a technical issue but also a matter of national competitiveness and economic stability.

To safeguard operations, executives are urged to adopt proactive strategies:

• Build resilience into operations: Treat downtime as a board-level risk, test continuity plans, and ensure recovery times are measured in hours.

• Secure the supply chain: Implement cyber standards across vendors, enforce visibility into third-party access points, and address potential vulnerabilities.

• Protect intellectual property: Recognise that cyber threats are increasingly deliberate and geopolitical. Invest in monitoring, advanced detection, and data-loss prevention.

• Invest in proactive defense: Move beyond compliance to prevent disruptions before they occur.

“Executives who embrace these priorities are not just defending against today’s threats, they are building a competitive edge. In an industry where uptime, trust, and innovation drive market share, resilience becomes a differentiator,” Hardie noted.

With cyberattacks intensifying in both frequency and sophistication, manufacturing executives must act decisively. Those who prioritize cyber resilience today will protect not only their production lines but also the long-term future and competitiveness of their business.