Starting next year, Nigeria will save $185 million every year hitherto spent by Nigerians to host their data in Google, Amazon and Microsoft as MTN Nigeria’s $150m tier 3 data centre with cloud infrastructure capacity became operational on July 1.
At the official unveiling of the facility in Lagos on Tuesday, the federal government said it would help bring on board about 20m Nigerians who have been digitally excluded.
Speaking at the occasion, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, said the MTN Data centre would also help unlock thousands of opportunities in the digital economy space.
According to the minister, the building and commissioning of the data centre aligns with some of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration agenda, which are job creation and digital literacy.
He commended MTN Nigeria’s executive and management for deeming Nigeria fit for the huge project.
On his part, the governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the project would further accord Lagos the leading position in digital economy space.
Represented by the Secretary to State Government (SSG), Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin, Sanwo-Olu said Lagos being the fifth largest economy in Africa would jealously protect the MTN investments in the State and would look forward for more investments from other tech giants.
The governor therefore assured MTN of its continuous support and urged the telcos not to relent in its investment in the country.
On his part, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida said the MTN Data tier 3 centre would accelerate the achievement of $1billion projected as the annual revenue to be generated by the Nigerian telecom sector this year.
Maida said the MTN Data Centre would make data ubiquitous and affordable in the country.
Daily Trust reports MTN launched the first phase of its data centre, which delivers 4.5 megawatts of capacity. The second phase will be introduced based on demand for computing power.
According to Yahaya Ibrahim, MTN Nigeria’s Chief Technical Officer, both phases are valued at $235 million, while the cloud infrastructure alone costs $20 million.
Roger Shutte, MTN Nigeria’s General Manager for Infrastructure, told journalists during a press briefing earlier on Monday that the facility is expected to scale up to 14 or even 20 megawatts, depending on future demand.
Speaking at the launch, MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola said the company is proud of this milestone, describing it as a step towards enabling growth and supporting Nigeria’s tech ecosystem.
“We are going to continue to expand the capacity that we have, and part of that is the readiness for artificial intelligence,” he said.
Toriola also noted that the data centre is named after MTN Nigeria’s former CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa in tribute to the man he said paved the way for the telecom operator’s success in Nigeria.
