Airtel Africa has launched Nxtra by Airtel, an innovative data centre initiative aimed at meeting the rising demand for reliable and sustainable data centre capacity in Africa.

Nxtra plans to establish an extensive network of high-capacity data centres strategically located in major cities, complementing Airtel Africa’s existing infrastructure.

“These centres, designed for the next generation of computing, will adhere to global security standards, providing secure and scalable solutions to various entities, including global hyper-scalers, large enterprises, startups, SMEs, and governments.”

Nxtra’s objectives include addressing the evolving needs of African enterprises, accelerating access to digital services, reducing data management costs, and fostering increased innovation and tech talent development across Africa.

The initiative also emphasizes data sovereignty by enabling compliance with regulatory requirements and promoting the offering of local cloud services in Airtel Africa’s operational countries.

The inaugural Nxtra facility is slated for Lagos, Nigeria, with a power capacity of 34 MW and expected operational status by mid-2025.

The facility will feature high-density racks and adhere to the latest construction best practices to achieve a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.3.

Yashnath Issur, former head of Global Data Centre Portfolio Management at Amazon Web Services, has been appointed as the chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead Nxtra, backed by a team of experts.

Airtel Africa’s Group CEO, Segun Ogunsanya emphasized the critical need for increased data centre capacity to support the growth of Africa’s digital economy and expressed confidence in Airtel Africa’s ability to position Nxtra as a key player in Africa’s digital transformation journey.