Artificial intelligence is reshaping industries, economies and societies at an unprecedented speed. As demand for cloud computing, AI workloads and data-intensive digital services accelerates, access to resilient, scalable and locally hosted digital infrastructure will become increasingly critical to Africa’s competitiveness and economic growth.
Against this backdrop, MTN Group today announced that MTN Digital Infrastructure has entered into a strategic partnership with UAE-based data centre investment platform to accelerate the development of AI-ready digital infrastructure platforms across Africa.
The partnership represents an important milestone in MTN’s Ambition 2030 strategy and reflects the Group’s commitment to enabling the infrastructure foundations required to support Africa’s next phase of digital transformation and economic development.
By combining MTN Digital Infrastructure’s extensive African footprint, market knowledge and infrastructure assets with specialist investment, development and operating expertise in the data centre sector, the partnership will help address growing demand for cloud, enterprise, digital and AI-enabled services across the continent.
The partners will pursue this strategic partnership through Africa Data Hub Holding Limited, which will serve as the platform through which future digital infrastructure opportunities will be developed and scaled across key African markets, with an initial focus on South Africa and Nigeria.
Bayobab, MTN’s digital connectivity business and a shareholder in the partnership, will provide open access connectivity and go-to-market support through its extensive pan African network, enabling customers to access world-class digital infrastructure services across multiple markets. The UAE-based investment platform was founded by Mr. Tarek Al Ashram, an experienced data center developer, operator and investor with an established track record across the Middle East.
“Africa’s digital economy is entering a new era, driven by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, cloud adoption and digital innovation. Realising this opportunity requires more than connectivity. It requires the infrastructure platforms that will power the next generation of digital services, businesses and innovation,” said Mazen Mroué, CEO of MTN
Group Digital Infrastructure. “This partnership is a step forward in the execution of our digital infrastructure strategy and demonstrates the power of collaboration. Together, we are bringing investment, infrastructure expertise, connectivity and market access into a single platform capable of supporting hyperscalers, cloud providers, enterprises and technology innovators across Africa.”
“Over the past years, we have seen firsthand how the development of world-class data centre infrastructure can support the rapid growth of cloud, digital services and AI across the Middle East. Africa now presents a similarly compelling opportunity, driven by strong underlying demand, rapidly expanding digital economies and an increasing need for resilient and scalable infrastructure”, Mr. Tarek Al Ashram said. “We see significant potential to bring our experience in developing and operating large-scale data centre platforms to African markets, and Africa Data Hub Holding Limited provides the right platform through which to invest in and help shape that growth. Combining this experience with MTN’s extensive African footprint and deep understanding of its markets gives us a strong foundation from which to build and scale the platform across the continent.”
The partnership reinforces MTN’s focus on enabling open, scalable digital infrastructure that supports innovation, economic inclusion and long-term growth, while strengthening Africa’s position in the global digital economy.