By Opeoluwa Okudero MTN Nigeria has completed the first phase of its $235 million Dabengwa Sifiso Data Centre, officially entering the commercial cloud and data hosting space. The 4.5MW Tier III facility is a strategic bet on Nigeria’s growing demand for local cloud infrastructure.
Why it matters
Nigeria’s cloud market is dominated by foreign hyperscalers like AWS and Azure—costing the country an estimated $350 million in capital flight annually. MTN’s move challenges this trend by offering in-country hosting, priced in naira, and compliant with local data laws.
By doing this, MTN isn’t just building infrastructure—it’s targeting enterprise demand, startup agility, and regulatory momentum that now favour local data residency under laws like the NDPA.
Who benefits
Enterprises get lower-latency, compliant hosting options without relying on offshore servers.
Startups get a self-orchestrating cloud platform that mimics AWS—without FX risks.
Nigeria’s economy retains more value locally while reducing regulatory risk exposure for high-compliance sectors.
MTN’s telecom-grade scale and infrastructure advantage could give it an edge over incumbents like Rack Centre and MainOne, especially as demand for AI-ready workloads and edge computing grows.
The race to host Africa’s data is on—and MTN just claimed a prime seat.
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