Raxio Group spends $30 million at Kinshasa location in drive to realise the Plan National du Numérique
A new data centre has gone live in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Limete, southeast of the capital city, Kinshasa. It is the country’s largest so far, built and operated by the Raxio Group, which invested $30 million in the project (pictured above). It has Tier III accreditation from the Uptime Institute.
The company says this represents “a pivotal milestone in the nation’s Plan National du Numérique to drive digital inclusion, foster private sector growth, and transform public services through digitalisation”. The provision of data centres is a key pillar of the government’s plan, improving the digital landscape through reduced latency for real-time applications and providing a reliable backbone for mobile and internet connectivity.
Record facility
The two-storey Raxio Data Centre covers 1,542 square meters and can house up to 400 racks and can deliver 1.5MW of IT power to customers’ equipment. The 24/7 facility is located along key fibre routes, offering colocation and connectivity services.
It has multiple paths for power and cooling systems and its “cutting edge components, guarantee unmatched levels of efficiency and a strong commitment to sustainability principles”.
The project was completed in record time since breaking ground on construction in early 2023, a testament to Raxio’s track record of designing and constructing data centre facilities in Africa, and the support of government authorities in fast-tracking priority national projects.
Pivotal moment
“The inauguration of our Kinshasa data centre marks a significant achievement for Raxio and a pivotal moment for the DRC’s digital landscape,” said Robert Mullins, CEO of Raxio Group. “DRC is one of Africa’s largest and fastest-growing markets with an existing latent demand for digital products and services that is forecast to soar in the coming years.
“With this facility, we are providing the critical infrastructure essential to supporting the digital economy and enhancing connectivity – and we expect to expand our presence in DRC through additional capacity and new facilities in years to come. Our investment reflects unwavering confidence in the DRC’s immense potential and our commitment to sustainable digital development across Africa.”
Raxio says it has the widest footprint of any data centre provider in Africa. Its strategy is to address the considerable demand for high-quality data infrastructure across the continent. Since opening its first data centre in Uganda in 2021, this year Raxio has expanded into Ethiopia and Mozambique.
The launch in the DRC is Raxio’s fourth facility to open this year with 1.5MW being the group’s largest Day 1 capacity to date.
Pan-African digital backbone
Raxio sees strong momentum behind the roll-out of its pan-African digital backbone as the appetite for data centre capacity is growing. This is amongst local enterprises, the public sector and, increasingly, some of the world’s largest hyperscale cloud service providers, content delivery networks and mobile network operators as they strengthen their networks and presence on the continent.
“Closing sub-Saharan Africa’s connectivity gap is no longer a pipe dream – it is happening now and we are extremely proud to be among the key enablers that are driving digital inclusion,” said Yannick Sukakumu, General Manager Raxio DRC.
“The commitment and pragmatism of the government has been a key enabling factor in spurring our project from inception to completion in record time and stands as an inspiration for the wider region in grasping this incredible opportunity for a broad-based digital economy expansion. We are looking forward to welcoming customers into an international-standard data centre environment.”