US firm to build first state-of-the-art data center in Tanzania

Raxio Tanzania, is to be built in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • As the second largest economy in the East African community, with an estimated population of roughly 60 million and 86 percent mobile penetration in 2020, Tanzania is one of the biggest consumer markets in the region
  • Raxio Tanzania will offer its customers an optimized environment for their IT equipment in a state-of-the-art "metro-edge" facility built consistent with Raxio’s standard design principles applied across its portfolio

Dar es Salaam. The Raxio Group, a US based investment firm has announced that it is investing and establishing 'Raxio Tanzania', the first state-of-the-art, carrier neutral, Tier III data center in the country.
The data center developer and operator, through their statement to the public recently stated that that Raxio Tanzania is the latest facility to be part of Raxio’s fast expanding network of interconnected carrier neutral, Tier III data centers across the African continent.
Raxio Tanzania, is to be built in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.
As the second largest economy in the East African community, with an estimated population of roughly 60 million and 86 percent mobile penetration in 2020, Tanzania is one of the biggest consumer markets in the region.
 The country has also been one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s fastest-growing economies, boasting average GDP growth of approximately 6 percent in the period 2001-2021, and projected to be 5.8 percent in 2022.
With three subsea cables already landed in the country and another set to land in 2023, Tanzania will be an increasingly important connectivity hub for the region. Expanding the infrastructure backbone is critical to support the continued digital and economic growth of the region and Raxio Tanzania will serve as a key enabler of international IP transit for the East African country’s six landlocked neighbors.
Set to be commissioned in 2023, Raxio Tanzania will be the sixth data center in Raxio’s portfolio of facilities in Africa. Raxio currently operates a 1.5MW facility in Uganda, and has facilities under construction in Ethiopia, Mozambique, the DRC and Ivory Coast.
“Once commissioned, Raxio Tanzania will deliver much needed colocation capacity to local, regional and international enterprises, cross connection services with local and international carriers and a series of value-added services,” the firm says in a statement.
Raxio Tanzania will offer its customers an optimized environment for their IT equipment in a state-of-the-art "metro-edge" facility built consistent with Raxio’s standard design principles applied across its portfolio. It will be fully equipped with industry-leading technology solutions that not only ensure full redundancy and maximized uptime, but also optimize power consumption and energy efficiency.
This multi-megawatt facility will set a new standard of data center services in the country, with the ability to accommodate the highest power density equipment at the lowest power usage efficiency ratio (PUE) in the region.
"Our decision to build Tanzania’s first Tier III carrier neutral facility highlights our commitment to our strategy to deliver the vital digital infrastructure needed on the African continent. With new connectivity solutions arriving and the rapid evolution of the digital ecosystem in the region, we will continue to build larger, hyper-scale ready facilities across a wider geographic footprint to meet the demand," said Robert Mullins, CEO of Raxio Group.

He added: As the second largest telecoms market in East Africa, with growing demand for connectivity and related services and its strategic location, Tanzania becomes an important centerpiece of our growing portfolio. As with all our facilities, Raxio Tanzania is being developed in full alignment with our ESG goals, driving a positive impact through both direct and indirect creation of highly skilled jobs for Tanzanian professionals, and a facility that is built and operated to the highest international environmental standards.