Pan-African data centre developer and operator Raxio Group said it will expand into Ivory Coast with a facility to be built in Abidjan, the country’s economic capital.

Similarly to Raxio’s branding across other regions, the new operational arm will be named ‘Raxio Abidjan’.

Raxio Abidjan, to be brought online in 2023, is being developed at the Ivory Coast Village of Innovation and Technology, located approximately 30KM from the city centre of Abidjan.

Initial capacity is set to accommodate approximately 400 racks and deliver 1.5MW of IT power.

The data centre is set to serve customers in Abidjan and in the wider UEMOA region, from a wide range of sectors, at a time when digital transformation, data and content consumption, and connectivity are all increasing.

Robert Mullins, CEO of Raxio Group said: We are delighted to be entering Ivory Coast as our first beachhead in the West African market. Ivory Coast is a true hub in the region and our decision to build the country’s first Tier III carrier neutral facility falls squarely within our strategy and furthers our expansion efforts.”

Raxio Abidjan will be the fifth data centre in Raxio’s portfolio of facilities in Africa, and the first in West Africa. Raxio currently operates and/or is expanding in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Ethiopia.

The company is on track to complete 10-12 data centre investments across Africa to meet the increased demand for local storage and data hosting in the region.

The Raxio Group is a portfolio company of Roha Group Inc, a US based investment firm focusing on investing in and building greenfield businesses across Africa, and Meridiam, a global developer, asset and fund manager specialising in sustainable infrastructure and energy transition projects.

Ivory Coast digital economy

Ivory Coast is the regional hub for the West African Economic Monetary and Economic Union (WAEMU or UEMOA), which includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

With regulation allowing banks and other financial institutions to freely store and transfer data across the economic block, Raxio said in a statement the country is the ideal location for businesses from across the region to collocate their disaster recovery infrastructure.

Ivory Coast has the 11th highest GDP in Africa, and the 17th highest GDP per capita, with an economy largely driven by the services sector and a thriving middle-class.

Digital transformation in the country has continued to accelerate in recent years with internet penetration currently at 46.8% and mobile penetration reaching 139.1%.

The new upcoming subsea cable landings and investments in terrestrial infrastructure will contribute to further reducing the cost of internet access and wireless broadband making it more accessible to the wider population.

Together, these are expected to drive appetite for data consumption and local content in both the consumer and enterprise segments.