Kenya data center market size is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of over 12.36pc between 2020−2026 to reach USD 342 Million.
According to a report by Arizton, an increase in the adoption of digital services such as cloud, big data, and IoT, and the shift from on-premises to colocation and managed facilities will be major drivers for data center development in the coming years in Kenya which is a major data center market in Africa and is considered the gateway to the East African region.
Nairobi, the capital city, currently contributes to over 80pc of the existing power capacity in the country with 6 existing third-party data centers. Mombasa, Kenya’s port city, is another major location witnessing investments from data center providers, as it is connected to the Middle East, Europe, and Asia through subsea cables.
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The report states that global operators are entering the Kenya market by acquiring local operators, or via partnerships.
icolo.io (Digital Realty), Africa Data Centres (Liquid Telecom), Pan African IX (PAIX) Data Centres, Safaricom, and Telkom Kenya are among the prominent colocation providers operating in the Kenya data center market.
The report also puts Kenya among the leading African nations for the generation of renewable energy. In 2020, renewable energy sources reportedly accounted for around 60pc of the total energy generated in the nation.
The report dubbed Kenya Data Center – Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 2021-2026 lists the Greater Mombasa SEZ, Lamu SEZ, Dongo Kundu SEZ, Naivasha Industrial Park, and Kisumu SEZ as the special economic zones in the country.
These SEZs are expected to aid technology development and innovation, and growth in rural and regional industrialization. This will increase the development of the data center area in the coming years.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REPORT
- Data center developments in Kenya are rising in recent years and increasing the need for physical security in the IT environment.
- In Kenya, there are four facilities certified by Uptime Institute as Tier III standard facilities.
- Nairobi is home to around six existing facilities that are under operation, and in future years there are around four upcoming data center facilities invested by IXAfrica Data Centre, Wingu, and Teraco Data Environments.
- In 2020, Huawei was involved in developing the Konza smart city and data center phase 1 and phase 2 with around USD 30 million investment.
- In 2020, Amazon Web Services partnered with Kenya’s Safaricom in East Africa, to facilitate cloud computing services that provide easy access to technologies such as big data, Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
