- Sonatel completes Phase 3 of its data centre project, enhancing digital capacity in West Africa.
- Expansion underscores the growing demand for resilient infrastructure amid digital transformation.
What happened: Sonatel expands Dakar data centre with third phase upgrade
Senegalese telecoms operator Sonatel has completed Phase 3 of its data centre project, marking a significant milestone in enhancing West Africa’s digital infrastructure. The expansion, announced via Capacity Media, adds extra rack space and boosts power capacity at its Tier III-certified facility in Dakar. This move aims to support the growing demand for secure cloud hosting, enterprise IT services, and reliable colocation in the region.
The upgraded facility improves redundancy and service availability, making it more attractive to both local and international clients. Sonatel, a subsidiary of the Orange Group, is positioning the centre as a critical regional hub to support business continuity and digital transformation. The company’s ongoing investment aligns with a broader trend across Africa, as seen with recent data centre developments by MainOne and Liquid Intelligent Technologies, who are also racing to meet Africa’s escalating digital needs.
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Why it is important
Sonatel’s expansion is a strategic and necessary response to the digital infrastructure gap in West Africa. The continent has experienced a surge in data consumption, cloud service uptake, and demand for localised content, all of which require robust, low-latency data facilities. Dakar’s enhanced data centre now provides the resilience and scalability that modern businesses and public institutions increasingly depend on.
This development strengthens Senegal’s digital competitiveness, giving the region better access to high-performance computing and secure cloud infrastructure. It also supports the Orange Group’s commitment to digital inclusion and economic development in Africa. With West Africa historically underrepresented in global data infrastructure investment, projects like this signal growing confidence in the region’s tech sector and its future potential.
By addressing both capacity and quality, Sonatel is helping lay the foundation for long-term digital growth, supporting everything from fintech to e-government services. It’s a welcome and timely development in a region poised for rapid digital acceleration.
