Liquid Telecom launches expanded SADC facilities

South Africa Data Centre (SADC) Johannesburg and SADC Cape Town, which are ISO 27001 certified and already home to nearly 100 customers, will provide leading cloud service providers, carriers and enterprises with additional rack space and colocation services to meet the rising demand for cloud-based services in Southern Africa.

“As moving to cloud-based solutions becomes more commonplace, businesses across Africa require more carrier-neutral, open-access data centre space for their business-critical data and applications,” said Nic Rudnick, Group CEO, Liquid Telecom.

“Through continuous investment in Africa Data Centres, we are providing the foundations for leading enterprises and cloud providers to come and build their digital future in Africa.” 

Africa Data Centres has more than doubled the size of its existing South Africa-based facilities, which are built to Tier III standards and were acquired as part of Liquid Telecom’s ZAR 6.55 billion ($429m) deal for Neotel in February 2017.

Following completion of the first phase of expansion, SADC Johannesburg now offers over 3,000 sq m of secured space for data servers served through a total power capacity of 7MW, while SADC Cape Town provides 1,800 sq m of secured rack space with 5.5MW of power, said a company release.

Commenting on Liquid Telecom raising $180 million in secured senior note and tap stock back in November, Rudnick said: “This is an exciting time for Liquid Telecom as we deliver our strategy with further investment and the monetisation of our network." The success of its offering reflected the increased demand that the Group had seen in its wholesale, enterprise and retail segments in the first-half of 2017.

At the time he added: "The funding will enable Liquid Telecom to continue to deliver its strategy to further expand and enhance its pan-African fibre network – the largest of its kind in the region – and broaden its digital service offering such as enterprise cloud services including Office 365 and Azure and new content products including Netflix and 100 other channels across the African continent."

Sources close to Econet, which owns a mobile operator in Zimbabwe as well as southern African fibre carrier Liquid Telecom confirmed back in November that the company was considering floating its shares on the London Stock Exchange, which would value the company at roughly $8 billion if the initial public offering (IPO) went ahead.

Further expansions are planned at both SADC Johannesburg and SADC Cape Town facilities, increasing space at the facilities by five-fold over the next five years.