Telecom
Huawei Partners Galaxy Backbone in Building Nigeria’s First Dual-Certified Tier IV Data Center
Galaxy Backbone (GBB), a digital transformation company in Nigeria, recently achieved Uptime Tier IV certification for its second data center, making it the first data center in Nigeria to obtain the Tier IV design and facility certifications.
This accomplishment signifies that GBB Data Center’s design and facilities meet the highest international standards, ensuring high reliability and availability. It also strengthens GBB’s capability to provide cloud, disaster recovery and business continuity services to organizations in both the public and private sectors.
Furthermore, this milestone accelerates Nigeria’s digital transformation and accelerates the nation’s journey towards becoming one of the leading digital economies across the African continent.
Uptime Tier certification is one of the world’s most authoritative data center rating systems. The certification system ranges from Tier I to Tier IV, with Tier IV being the highest. It encompasses three dimensions: design, facility, and operations. Tier IV data centers offer the highest level of redundancy and fault tolerance, achieving an availability of 99.995%.
The global digital economy is booming. As Africa’s largest economy and most populous country, Nigeria has been promoting the digital economy. Recent initiatives include the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy 2020–2030 and the National Broadband Plan 2020–2025. These efforts aim to accelerate digital infrastructure construction, increase broadband penetration, narrow the digital divide, and promote sustainable economic growth.
Established by the Federal Government of Nigeria, GBB provides ICT facilities and services for government ministries, departments, and agencies, and is responsible for building and operating the National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB), a fiber optic network that spans the country and has connected nearly 30 states with high-speed fiber connectivity. In phases 1 and 2 of the project, data centers were built in Abuja and Kano, respectively, to meet growing network demands.
Huawei Join Hands with GBB to Build Prefabricated Modular Data Centers and Achieve Ultimate TTM
Building a traditional data center takes up to 30 months from planning and design to onsite construction, which is not conducive to rapid service rollout. After several rounds of evaluation, GBB chose Huawei. In the phase 2 of the project, GBB adopted Huawei’s FusionDC1000B prefabricated modular data center solution.
This solution transforms the traditional sequential construction mode into one that features concurrent onsite construction and factory prefabrication, achieving fast delivery and on-demand deployment.
The data center consists of 17 prefabricated containers and integrates multiple systems such as the smart module, modular UPS, lithium battery, data center infrastructure management (DCIM), and iCooling. Through engineering productization, prefabrication, and pre-commissioning, only simple hoisting and assembly are required onsite, significantly reducing onsite construction waste and achieving dust-free construction.
It takes only one month to hoist 17 containers and complete equipment installation and testing, making it the fastest construction time among local data center projects of similar size.
Additionally, the prefabricated containers have a service life of 50 years and can withstand magnitude 3 earthquakes and scale 12 winds. They meet IP55 dustproof and waterproof standards, providing building-like quality and experience.
The Highly Reliable Tier IV Data Center Helps Nigeria Accelerate Digital Transformation
High reliability and availability are the eternal pursuits of data center construction. However, most of the existing data centers in Nigeria are Tier III. Therefore, to meet market demands, GBB partnered with Huawei to build Nigeria’s first Uptime Tier IV data center with dual certifications.
In designing the data center, GBB drew on the exterior and interior layout of the industry’s best data centers and pre-integrated the equipment and power distribution rooms.
And for the first time, peripheral power supply and distribution equipment, air conditioner indoor and outdoor units, and maintenance and visitor’s passages are prefabricated into modules. As a result, the data center achieves an industry-leading prefabrication rate and passes the Uptime Tier IV certification in both design and facilities.
Professor Ibrahim Adeyanju, Managing Director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone, said, “Achieving this Tier IV certification from Uptime Institute is a testament to our unwavering dedication to excellence in cloud, data center, and business continuity services.
“This certification assures our clients that they can rely on us for the highest levels of service availability and security. We remain committed to driving innovation and delivering world-class services to support the digital transformation of Nigeria and beyond.”
Huawei will continue to work with GBB to build green, simple, smart, and reliable (GSSR) digital infrastructures across Nigeria and other African countries interested in similar services.
This partnership aims to help Nigeria bridge the digital divide, share digital dividends, and illuminate the future of West Africa with digital advancements, powering the digital era forward.
Lynda Saint-Nwafor, chief Enterprise business officer, MTN Nigeria, has assured the network subscribers that the new end-user billing system for the use of USSD services will jot affect them.
USSD, otherwise Unstructured Supplementary Service Data codes are commonly used for banking transactions, airtime recharges, and other mobile services.
The telco said that there is no significant impact or change other than the fact that they will now pay the same N6.98 per session (120 seconds) with their airtime instead of direct bank debit.
Saint-Nwafor, said this during a chat with MTN MIP fellows, explaining that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have ordered telecom operators to ensure that the new billing model resolves trust issues and ensures transparency in the billing process.
“Our regulator insisted that at the end of every month, we are going to be providing history and statistics on the performance of the service across the board”, she explained.
Saint-Nwafor added that the new billing model has standardized messaging across all operators and ensures consistent communication with customers.
“We will take all the error codes and map them into messages that are standardised across the board. So, if you initiate a transaction, you will know if it is failing. And, when the transaction fails, you will know if it is from your bank or the telco,” she explained.
The U.S. government has recovered $225 million in what is now the largest seizure of funds linked to a cryptocurrency investment scam.
In a statement released Wednesday, June 18, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the recovery followed an extensive investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, using blockchain analysis and other forensic tools. The statement did not confirm whether any arrests had been made.
According to the authorities, the stolen funds originated from fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes that tricked victims into believing they were making legitimate investments. More than 400 individuals around the world, including dozens in the United States, were reportedly affected.
The operation involved a sophisticated money laundering network that carried out hundreds of thousands of blockchain transactions to obscure the source and ownership of the stolen assets.
“These scams prey on trust, often resulting in extreme financial hardship for the victims,” said Shawn Bradstreet, Special Agent in Charge at the U.S. Secret Service office in San Francisco.
Bradstreet added that U.S. officials hope the recovered funds can eventually be returned to the rightful victims.
Cryptocurrency investment fraud accounted for over $5.8 billion in reported losses in 2024 alone, according to the statement.
In a rousing declaration that is electrifying minds across the continent, Hon. Nnaemeka Ani, Special Adviser on ICT to Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, has called for a homegrown digital revolution under the banner “Africa Will Rise: By Code, By Courage, By Us.”
Hon. Nnaemeka Ani
The message, part challenge, part philosophical—seeks to galvanize African innovators to move beyond buzzwords and build technology with impact and legacy in mind.
“Let’s stop building for hype. Let’s start building for legacy,” Ani urged while speaking to ICT journalists over the weekend. “Let’s stop waiting for someone else. Let’s start creating the future—on our own terms.”
At the heart of Ani’s vision is a shift from tech consumerism to tech authorship. With innovation hubs sprouting across cities like Enugu, Lagos, Kigali, Jo’Burg, and Nairobi, and a growing community of developers, engineers, and entrepreneurs determined to solve Africa’s unique challenges, the movement is already taking shape.
Ani emphasized that Africa’s future lies not in flashy apps or international admiration but in persistent, intentional solutions that uplift communities—solutions that digitize public services, bridge rural-urban divides, empower women and youth, and build resilience in food and climate systems.
“We have the talent,” he said. “Now it’s time to harness it—to stop building for likes and start building for lasting impact.”
With support from leaders like Ani and rising momentum in Africa’s tech corridors, it seems that a new chapter is being written—one line of code at a time.
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