By Adedapo Adesanya
Equinix Incorporated is set to bring a full range of transformative technologies and connectivity to Nigeria and other West African nations as it announced the completion of a $320 million deal to acquire West African data centre and connectivity solutions provider, MainOne.
The conclusion of this deal augments Equinix’s long-term strategy to become a leading African carrier-neutral digital infrastructure company by allowing it to extend Platform Equinix into West Africa, giving organizations based inside and outside of Africa access to global and regional markets.
The firm will have under its wing, four operational data centres, which will add more than 64,000 gross square feet of space to Platform Equinix, in addition to 570,000 square feet of land for future expansions.
It will also have an extensive submarine network extending 7,000 kilometres from Portugal to Lagos, Accra and along the West African coast, with landing stations in Nigeria, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire among other assets like a terrestrial network of more than 1,200 kilometres of reliable terrestrial fibre in which connects across 65 points of presence (PoPs) in cities across Portugal, Nigeria, and others.
The company will seek to bank on Nigeria’s position as both the largest population and the largest economy of any country in Africa, with approximately 142 million active internet subscribers.
It hopes to capitalise on MainOne headquarters being in Lagos, as it is rapidly becoming a key connectivity hub for the wider West Africa region. It hopes to open an additional facility this month.
Its founder, Mrs Funke Opeke, will continue to lead under the new brand of MainOne, an Equinix company working with nearly 500 employees and a management team with a deep understanding of local and international markets.
The closure of the MainOne acquisition marks the latest in a series of strategic acquisitions for the world’s digital infrastructure company after the announcement of intent to acquire MainOne in December 2021, Equinix recently announced expansions in South America with its intended acquisition of three Entel data centres to accelerate digital transformation opportunities for local businesses and multinational companies.
Both acquisitions followed announcements to acquire 13 Bell data centres in Canada and two highly interconnected data centres in Mumbai through the acquisition of GPX India in October 2020 and September 2021, respectively.
Modupe Gbadeyanka