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Jumia/MTN 1st Megathon ‎Week Attracts Global Mobile Devices OEMs

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Jumia, Nigeria’s leading online shop and in a few days will be unveiling one of its biggest sale of the year, dubbed ‘the Biggest Mobile Sales Ever’ of the retail industry in Nigeria.

Supported by MTN and Mediatek, the Jumia Mobile Week Megathon will last for a week, starting on May 31st at midnight and lasting until Sunday the 7th of June at midnight, the company announced during a media barley in Lagos.

Jumia has collaborated with all the major international mobile brands to offer deals and amazing discounts on all mobile phones available on the website throughout the week.

Original Equipment Manufacturers like Archos, Blackberry, FLY, Huawei, iMose, Itel, Oraimo and Wiko are amongst the brands that Jumia has partnered with to bring to its customers the highest value for their money.

But the most noteworthy collaboration is undoubtedly the one Jumia stroke with the 7 biggest international mobile brands in Nigeria: InnJoo, Infinix, Tecno, Samsung, Apple, Lenovo and LG.

In addition to discounts on all the mobile phones of the brands, Jumia will offer its customers special “Hero” deals on all 7 brands. 

InnJoo will be unveiling in exclusivity its new InnJoo Fire and the best-seller InnJoo One.

Infinix, the highest selling mobile brand in Nigeria in March will have exclusive hero deals on the Infinix Hot X507 and the Infinix Hot Note.

Tecno will showcase its Tecno Y5 and L7 while Samsung will provide Jumia customers with an amazing hero deal on the Star Plus 2.

Apple, through Istore, the authorized retailer of Apple in Nigeria, comes with incredible hero deals on its two latest phones: the Iphone 6 and the Iphone 6+.

Lenovo will amaze us with hero deals on the A328 and A6000 and LG will close the show on Sunday with hero deals on the L60a and LG Magna.
 
Additional flash sales with discounts of 50% will also take place all through mobile week on hero deals and other new product launches…

New hero deals will be revealed every day of the week, starting at 5am on the Jumia App and at 9am on the desktop version.

With the Mobile week Megathon, Jumia contributes to the formidable growth of mobile penetration in Nigeria and supported by MTN, makes internet penetration easier: every phone bought on Jumia during the Mobile Week will be coming with a free 1 month Gigabyte data as well as a free music stream for 1 month with free SIM cards!
 
What is MTN Bringing?
MTN offers the widest data network in Nigeria with 61 million subscribers in Nigeria and unbeatable data prices.

MTN is supporting the Jumia Mobile week and offer on all purchase of mobile phone 1 month free 3GB data on every device bought during mobile.

MTN is a sponsor of the Jumia Mobile week.

On the other hand, MediaTek is a pioneering fabless semiconductor company and a market leader in cutting-edge systems on a chip for wireless communications, HDTV, DVD and Blu-ray.

MediaTek created the world’s first octa-core smartphone platform with LTE and our CorePilot technology released the full power of multi-core mobile processors headquartered in Taiwan.

Mediatek is also a sponsor of the Jumia Mobile week.

The OEMs
INFINIX
The INFINIX brand represents quality, affordable and premium lifestyle which it promotes encourages and sustains through its variety of products and services. With the brand spirit of challenging the norms, Infinix smart devices are designed specifically for young people who want to stand out, reach out and in sync with the world.

It inspires your daily life, with access to key features that young people look for, such as social networking, access to thousands of free apps and entertainment.

Since its creation in 2009, Infinix has become a major player in the mobile phones and tablets market.

Avant –garde designs, innovative functions and impeccable quality are just some of the reasons why millions of consumers are seduced by our products.

Infinix defines norms and opens the doors to the future, based on it slogan: The future is now!

Jumia mobile week affords us the opportunity to partner with a major player in the e-commerce industry in Nigeria to showcase our unique products and services.

The rapid growth of Jumia.com has seen it emerge as arguably the country’s number one online shopping portal, with over 1000 members of staff after just a short time in operation.

This is also similar to the growth achieved by the Infinix brand in the Nigerian market. Jumia is poised to maintain leadership in Nigeria’s online retail market.

The site controls 70% of the online retail market in the country and has serviced over a million customers, in addition to being independently ranked as second only to Google for preferred online shopping in Nigeria.

Dr. Jonathan Doerr, MD of Jumia Nigeria, said, ‎”Jumia mobile week affords us the opportunity to interact with other brands and compare products and services and also introduce latest trends in the industry.

“As is our commitment to our users and fans, in the near future, Infinix hopes to keep improving on our products and services to reflect the lifestyle of our users. We plan to tailor our devices to meet each individuals need according to their lifestyle and demands.

“Already evident are several improvements to our customer service delivery in terms of creating several avenues for our users to interact with our brand. One of the key elements of this is our Infinix forum which affords users the opportunity to tell us their challenges, offer user feedback and suggest product and service improvements. Another avenue is our Infinix community of users where we interact one on one with the Infinix users.

“Also customers can also keep expecting regular updates via OTA updates which will always offer product and service improvements.”

TECNO
Mr Chidi Okonkwo, Deputy Country Manager of TECNO Mobile said the Tech giant is keen on setting the pace on first high quality professional music phone BOOM J7 delivered to mobile users’ ears through this collaboration with Jumia and that’s one of the driving force behind the Mobile week partnership.

He stated that in 2014 Tecno mobile shipped in tens of millions of devices into the Nigerian market and this year we would increase that figure by a lot more and to be able to deliver our devices to the Nigerian market we should be able to drive strong offline and online partnership and distribution networks to meet the demand of our customers.

Tecno Mobile being one of the biggest mobile players in the Nigerian market strive to have very good service in the ecommerce space in the Nigeria market, and this service will aid the delivery of devices to numerous customers across Nigeria.

“Nigerians love music and we have designed the RIGHT phone that will give our Nigerian customers value and great experience for their money both on mobile services and entertainment and with our multi-channel off and online service we’ll continue to push our strategy of delivering the right product to our customers” Chidi informed.

He also  added that Tecno mobile as a brand is committed to innovation and customer experience and customers should expect to experience more in the area of entertainment with a special focus on music.

Chidi, on his part said that the Mobile Week would focus on how best to harness and promote mobile penetration and inclusion in Nigeria. He highlighted that, as more people spend more time each day on their mobile devices, the mobile platform is fast replacing traditional TVs and PCs in delivering primary entertainment in music, gaming and movies to consumers.

The DCM Tecno Nigeria boss holds the view that the Mobile Week will better showcase the online store’s strategy that has made Jumia Nigeria one of Africa’s most innovative stores in using Mobile platforms to bring the right products more closely to customers via refined mobile advertising toolkits.

SAMSUNG
Samsung and Jumia have partnered with World Reader, a non-profit organisation, in an initiative that will promote literacy and education by pre-installing 15,000 free e-books in Samsung entry level smartphones.

The select smartphones include, Ace 4 Lite, Ace 3, Trend Lite, J1, Star 2 Plus and Ace 4 Neo.

Customers can download about 15,000 e-books for free, thus reducing the cost and stress of having to seek for their hard copies.

The selected smartphones are imbued with the latest Android software, powerful processor with long lasting battery life as well as large memory of 4GB on board which is expandable to as much as 64 GB.

These devices are also provided with an additional 50GB Dropbox cloud memory to download and save books.

The Samsung smartphones pre-installed with the World Reader app are available on Jumia, Nigeria’s leading online retailer and as such can be purchased online and delivered to you anywhere in Nigeria.

The icing on the cake is that these phones will be available at unbelievably discounted prices during the Jumia Mobile Week which takes place from the 1st of June till the 7th of June.

“At Samsung, we believe mobile devices have the power to move people from where they are to where they want to be, which is why we have partnered with World Reader and Jumia on this. We have retailed over 250,000 devices, priced below N25,000 each, mostly to young Nigerians and believe these numbers will be dwarfed, both in terms of retailed units and price, by what is to come during the Jumia Mobile Week”, said Brovo Kim, Managing Director of Samsung Electronics West Africa.

According to Kim, it takes only about 4MB to download 1000 pages, making it easy for consumers to download and read as much as they want without expending so much data. The World Reader app also features books that are suitable for every taste from over 100 African writers, including notable African authors.

“We are proud to be associated with Samsung and World Reader on this project. We have always been passionate about child literacy, with our long running involvement in the 1 book 1 child project a good example. Every child has a right to education and we are delighted to be part of the solution to the challenge in the education sector. We believe this partnership will help promote literacy and education among Nigerians”, said Jonathan Doerr, MD Marketing, Jumia Nigeria.

The Samsung devices will also receive free regular updates of the World Reader app, enhancing the relevance of the content.

LENOVO
Recognising the transformative potential of mobile technology for economic growth, job creation, businesses and wider digital inclusion of Nigeria’s citizens, global leader in mobile communications, Lenovo, the world’s number one PC company and Nigeria’s largest online retail store, Jumia, have combined their resources and expertise to enhance the mobile experience of Nigerians with the country’s biggest mobile sale yet.

The sale is a part of the ongoing Jumia Mobile Week, an initiative geared at enhancing levels of mobile awareness and increasing access to mobile devices among Nigerians.

Describing the move as a demonstration of Lenovo’s commitment to creating and broadening key partnerships that deliver rich mobile experiences to Nigerians, Mr Shashank Sharma, ‎executive director, Mobile Business Group at Lenovo, Middle East and Africa (MEA), expressed the company’s pleasure at being able to deepen its long-standing relationship with Jumia.

“We are very excited to work with Jumia towards increasing Nigerians’ access to mobile technologies. This initiative will help us drive access to affordable and ubiquitous mobile services amongst consumers. It also empowers us to provide a larger set of consumers with increased awareness on mobile as well as access to our superior technology. We believe that every Nigerian should have access to the exciting world of smartphones and Jumia Mobile Week provides another platform through which we can achieve this goal,” he said.

Besides creating a channel for consumers to purchase authentic Lenovo products at affordable prices, the Jumia Mobile Week Megathon also provides Nigerians with access to the latest entrants into Lenovo’s smartphone portfolio.

These include the Lenovo S90, a perfect selfie companion with an 8-megapixel front-facing camera and front LED flash; the ergonomically designed Lenovo S60 that showcases users’ fun and social sides as well as the revolutionary dual-SIM Lenovo A6000 smartphone, the first and only budget device in the market to support 4G LTE networks for the fastest data connectivity.

On his part, Jeremy Doutte, CEO of Jumia Nigeria said: “Jumia is committed to fostering digital inclusion by bringing mobile products closer to the doorstep of Nigerians. Our ongoing Jumia Mobile Week is another step in this direction. Customer experience remains central to the services that we provide and this has ensured a strong partnership between ourselves and Lenovo.”

Doutte urged Nigerians to visit Jumia’s online store on www.jumia.com.ng/megathon and discover for themselves the ease and benefits of online shopping.

INNJOO
InnJoo is a technical startup born with internet DNA. We’re not only providing smart devices but also software services in the MEA area.

– InnJoo listens and does the localisation from the user’s perspective. – InnJoo insists good products need not to be labeled with a high price tag.

– InnJoo strives to continue an Internet Journey with more users and more fun. Born for new generation, we are young, we are change makers!

Amidst the tides of Internet, Jumia Mobile Week opens a wider door to the public and provides every brand a platform to show their style. InnJoo won’t want to miss it, we are born here.

As the biggest mobile sales event in Nigeria, it’s offering the best prices online for the world’s hottest phone brands, consumers can benefit from Internet Joy and start their own Internet Journey.

Jumia Mobile Week also offers every phone with 3GB Data and 6 months of free whatsApp instantly as an extra offer; this is something different and beneficial to the bands and consumer.

Mobile Week has the potential to be a yearly mobile online event, which is a kind of “Oscar Ceremony” in technology industry. Consumers have the right to choose their own favourite brand and mobile model, while brands will improve themselves for the market to the better and better.

As the official gold partner, InnJoo will have an exclusive sales day at the first day of June.

From June 1st to 7th, InnJoo products including smartphone, tablet and accessory are at up to 30% discount as the best price ever compared to the market average price with the same specifications.

Looking at the product line, all of InnJoo phones are equipped with 2GB Ram for better user experience, low price but not low-end. Smartphone InnJoo Fire – 5.0 inch | 2GB Ram | 4 textures shell (Natural Bamboo optional) InnJoo ONE – 5.0 inch | 2GB Ram | Octa-core | 5+13 MP InnJoo Note Pro – 5.5 inch | 2GB Ram | 8+13 MP | 3000 mAh; ‎ Tablet InnJoo F1 – 7.0 inch | Dual SIM; InnJoo F2 – 10.1 inch | Dual SIM; InnJoo Leap 4 – Intel inside | 4500 mAh | 3G&Wifi; Power Bank; InnJoo E1 10,000 mAh and
InnJoo E5 15,000 mAh‎.

LG
LG Electronics (LG) unveiled its eagerly anticipated LG G4 smartphone on the 29th of April, at launch events in New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Istanbul and Seoul.

Approximately 1,000 guests around the world gathered to view the new LG G4, the successor to the G3, which exceeded all expectations in terms of sales and industry awards.

Among the first users of the LG G4 will be 4,000 lucky customers who will receive the new smartphone as part of the company’s largest-ever consumer experience campaign.

With the G4, LG focused on delivering comfortable elegance, a great visual experience and a human-centric user experience.

The LG G4 camera features a rare-in-smartphones F1.8 aperture lens which allows 80 percent more light to hit the image sensor than in the LG G3.

The innovative camera module is paired with the new IPS Quantum Display that is better in every way than the innovative Quad HD display introduced to the world in the LG G3.

The LG G4 embodies human sensibility that is clearly visible in its Slim Arc exterior design and graphical user interface.

“We are living up to our promise of Innovation for a Better Life with a fashionable, premium smartphone that is more focused on delivering a balanced user experience that can compete with the best of the best,” said Juno Cho, president and CEO of the LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We wanted to give consumers a truly human-centric device that combined the analog sensibilities with technologies that delivered real world performance. From the design to the camera to the display to the UX, this is the most ambitious phone we’ve ever created.”

Comfortable & Elegant Design
LG paid special attention to the materials utilized in its newest flagship.

The LG G4 is available in handcrafted, genuine full grain leather in six beautiful colors.

The vegetable tanning process employed is an age old tradition that requires skilled craftsmen to produce and dye the leather.

Most importantly, vegetable tanned leather is environmentally friendly and can be recycled easily, since no harsh chemicals are used. Other material options for the G4 rear cover include pure Ceramic White with 3D patterns, artisan-forged Metallic Gray as well lustrous, Shiny Gold.

The fashionable elegance of the LG G4 is a refreshing change from the uniformly flat, full metal designs that have been become standard across the industry. The LG G4’s design is defined by the Slim Arc, which runs along its entire body, highlighted by a display with a subtle curvature.

More than just a design accent, Slim Arc offers 20 percent better durability than a flat smartphone in face-down drops and gives the smartphone a more comfortable and secure feel in the hand.
Great Visual Experience

LG designed the 16MP camera in the LG G4 to capture beautiful images, even under less than ideal lighting conditions, among other interesting features and devices.

APPLE
iStore and iStore Online is an Apple Authorized Reseller (AAR), providing a dedicated hub for for consumers to purchase Apple products and accessories.

With a recent partnership with Jumia to take the Apple experience online, iStore and iStore Online is the most reliable Apple Authorised Reseller in Nigeria.

iStore Online aims to maximise customer value offerings by providing an authentic Apple experience and offering online customers exclusive offline services such as in-store complimentary training, technical support, and technical set-up.

As Apple Authorized Resellers, buying from iStore and iStore Online gives customers the peace of mind that they are buying the real thing and not buying fake, stolen or grey Apple products.

This means, ‎customers will get the most out of their investment; ‎customers are helping in the fight against fraud and criminal activity; ‎all authentic Apple devices carry the 1-year Apple warranty and ‎customers will receive free in-store training and technical support.

iStore and iStore Online share Jumia’s vision of offering customers premium devices at great savings.

Jumia Mobile Week offers consumers the opportunity to share the Apple experience with via a fantastic online platform.


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FG Plans to Invest $460m World Bank Loan in Fibre Infrastructure

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Federal Government plans to channel $460m World bank loan, representing about 92 per cent of a $500m, into the proposed fibre infrastructure company set up to deploy 90,000 kilometres of climate-resilient broadband fibre across the country.

This is contained in the Financing Agreement for the Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth project between the Federal Government and the International Development Association, the concessional lending arm of the World Bank.

Under the agreement, the World Bank approved a $500m concessional credit to support Nigeria’s drive to expand access to high-quality and climate-resilient broadband internet in unserved and underserved areas.

Of this amount, $460m is earmarked specifically for equity financing and capitalisation of a new Project Company that will drive the fibre rollout. The remaining $40m will cover goods, works, consulting and non-consulting services, training, operating costs, and the refund of a preparation advance used to develop the project framework.

According to the document, the proposed Project Company will be established “as an independent, majority privately-owned and managed special purpose vehicle-joint venture with the objective of the deployment of 90,000 kilometres of climate-resilient fibre infrastructure following a phased approach, limited to provision of wholesale, open access services to licensed telecommunications operators, and management of associated investments, including the carrying out of preparatory activities and provision of transaction advisory services, and provision of equity financing in and capitalization of the Project Company.”

The Federal Government will participate in the company as a shareholder through the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, which manages the government’s investment interests. However, the agreement explicitly caps the government’s shareholding at a maximum of 49 per cent, ensuring that the company remains majority privately owned.

The $460m equity injection is broken into four tranches, tied to strict performance and operational milestones. The first tranche of $150m will be released once the Project Company is incorporated as a joint venture with private partners selected through a process acceptable to the World Bank, and after its memorandum, articles of association, and shareholding agreement are approved.

A second tranche of $100m will only be disbursed after the company adopts fiduciary and administrative procedures approved by the lender and completes at least 5,000 kilometres of fibre deployment. The third tranche of $100m is linked to the completion of an additional 20,000 kilometres of network construction.

The final tranche of $110m will be released after the company launches wholesale open-access services through a published reference offer and completes a further 40,000 kilometres of fibre deployment, bringing the total rollout to at least 65,000 kilometres before the final equity drawdown.

Once each tranche is withdrawn, the agreement requires that the funds be transferred to the Project Company’s dedicated account within five working days, showing the equity nature of the financing rather than traditional budgetary spending.

The project will be implemented under the oversight of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, and the Federal Ministry of Finance will receive semi-annual progress updates.

A dedicated Project Implementation Unit will manage day-to-day execution, with overall financial management handled by the Federal Project Financial Management Department in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

Beyond the fibre rollout, the project also includes technical assistance to federal government agencies to support the use of high-quality broadband in targeted areas, as well as funding for project management, monitoring and evaluation, environmental and social safeguards, grievance redress mechanisms and independent audits.

The agreement places strong emphasis on environmental and social standards, requiring compliance with an Environmental and Social Commitment Plan. It also mandates the establishment of an accessible grievance mechanism for affected communities and strict reporting obligations to the World Bank.


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Court Dismisses N1Bn Suit against MTN, Awards N3m Costs

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A Federal High Court in Lagos has dismissed a N1 billion lawsuit filed against MTN Nigeria Communications Plc by Walls and Gates Ltd and Okechukwu Udeichi, its managing director, over alleged copyright infringement, breach of confidentiality, and trademark violations arising from MTN’s 20th anniversary promotional campaign.

Court Dismisses N1Bn Suit against MTN, Awards N3m Costs

Delivering judgement on Tuesday, Justice Ayokunle Faji held that the plaintiffs failed to establish any legally protectable right in their proposal titled “20 for 20”, describing the action as frivolous, speculative, and vexatious.

The court dismissed the suit in its entirety and awarded N3m in costs against the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs instituted the action under Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1935/2021, alleging that MTN unlawfully used their “20 for 20” proposal, which they claimed to have submitted to the telecoms company on 17 September 2019, ahead of MTN’s 20th anniversary celebration in 2021.

They argued that MTN’s anniversary promotion, in which 20 sport utility vehicles were given out to subscribers, emanated from their proposal and amounted to infringement of their copyright, confidential information, and trademark.

Based on those claims, the plaintiffs sought N1bn in damages or, alternatively, an order directing MTN to render an account of revenue generated from the promotion and remit 50 per cent of it to them.

MTN denied the allegations, contending that the proposal was an unsolicited business idea that imposed no contractual or confidential obligation on the company.

The telecoms firm maintained that its 20th anniversary programme was independently developed and that the plaintiffs’ document was merely a general business concept not protected under Nigerian copyright law.

MTN further argued that the plaintiffs lacked a valid registered trademark and failed to demonstrate access to or copying of any protected expression.

In resolving the dispute, Justice Faji noted that the plaintiffs conceded during oral submissions that they failed to prove their claim of trademark infringement, leaving only the issues of alleged breach of confidentiality and copyright infringement for determination.

On confidentiality, the court held that no confidential relationship existed between the parties.

Justice Faji observed that before sending the proposal to MTN, the plaintiffs had already submitted it to the Nigerian Copyright Commission and relied on it for a trademark application, thereby placing the document in the public domain.

The judge further noted that after transmitting the proposal to MTN, the plaintiffs admitted circulating it to other organisations, which extinguished any claim to confidentiality.

According to the court, MTN had no obligation to respond to an unsolicited proposal in the absence of a contractual, fiduciary, or business relationship, or a non-disclosure agreement.

On the allegation of copyright infringement, the court held that registration with the Nigerian Copyright Commission does not confer copyright, stressing that Nigerian law protects expressions, not ideas or business concepts.

Justice Faji ruled that the plaintiffs’ “20 for 20 Millennium Promotion” amounted to no more than an idea of rewarding customers during an anniversary celebration and lacked the originality and intellectual effort required for copyright protection.

He described the proposal as a bare business concept devoid of original qualities capable of attracting copyright. The judge also held that MTN’s use of the phrase “MTN 20th Anniversary” was a natural description of an anniversary event and did not originate from any protectable work of the plaintiffs.

He further relied on evidence showing that MTN affiliates in other jurisdictions had implemented similar anniversary reward ideas before the plaintiffs’ proposal.

Justice Faji characterised the suit as a “gold-digging exercise” aimed at forcing a commercial relationship on MTN. He criticised the plaintiffs for using MTN’s trademark in their proposal without authorisation and then seeking to ground a billion-naira claim on the same document, adding that the case wasted valuable judicial time.

While affirming that citizens should have access to the courts, the judge stressed that such access must be limited to suits with prima facie merit.

He therefore awarded N3m in costs in favour of MTN, holding that costs must follow the event.

The court accordingly dismissed the suit in its entirety and ordered the plaintiffs to pay the awarded costs to the defendant.

Credit: Punch


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Nigeria, Egypt to Lead Africa’s Data Center Boom

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Africa’s data center landscape is rapidly evolving from small, isolated initiatives into a large-scale, fast-paced expansion.

Nigeria, Egypt to Lead Africa’s Data Center Boom

According to Africa Telecom Review, between 2025 and 2030, capacity demand is expected to soar, driven by rising cloud adoption, generative AI workloads, and the growth of digital services.

Leading this momentum are Nigeria in West Africa and Egypt in North Africa, which are drawing significant investment, carrier-neutral facilities, and increased interest from hyperscalers, even as developers and governments work to overcome challenges in power, connectivity, and talent.

Nigeria: West Africa’s Gateway to Scalability

Nigeria’s data center market has rapidly shifted from discussions to active development. Driven by a vibrant digital economy, a large mobile-first population, and a dynamic startup ecosystem, Lagos has emerged as the prime location for both colocation facilities and hyperscale projects.

Nigeria’s data center market is expanding rapidly, with an estimated 136.7 MW capacity in 2025 and projections to reach 279.4 MW by 2030 at a 15% CAGR, driven by recent facilities such as Equinix’s LG2.3 expansion in Lagos, and upcoming projects including MTN Nigeria’s 1,500-rack center and new 38-MW and 24-MW facilities under construction.

However, growth is challenged by severe power constraints, as Nigeria’s grid, capable of about 6,000 MW, fails to meet the nation’s total demand (100,000 MW), forcing data centers to rely on costly backup generation like diesel and gas, with limited current adoption of renewables despite some efficiency gains.

Growing demand from enterprises, banks, telcos, and government platforms for low-latency, sovereign hosting is driving a fundamental shift away from dependence on foreign landing points and offshore cloud regions. Developers are answering this need with multi-purpose campuses that offer carrier neutrality, cloud on-ramps, and edge infrastructure tailored for content delivery, fintech, and e-commerce surges.

The business case is strong and industry studies consistently rank Nigeria’s market growth and capacity outlook among the fastest-rising on the continent through 2030.

Egypt: The North African anchor

Egypt’s strategic geography, sizeable domestic market, improving policy environment, and Digital Egypt initiative have made it a prime destination for large-scale data hub projects. Cairo and the Nile Delta corridor offer fiber connectivity routes to Europe and the Middle East, and recent corporate deals and project pipelines point to a race to build hyperscale-ready campuses.

As of mid-2025, Egypt has 15 operational submarine cables with three more under construction. The country is targeting 18 by year-end to enhance low-latency access to Europe and Asia and the data center market is projected to grow from USD 278 million in 2024 to USD 694 million by 2030 at a robust pace.

These Egyptian developments matter beyond national borders as a consolidated Cairo hub creates new routing options and resiliency for MENA traffic and provides another competitive alternative to Western European clouds and submarine routes. For pan-African architects, Egypt represents both a distribution point and a home market for AI-scale infrastructure.

Demand Drivers and the AI Inflection Point

Two intertwined forces are powering the boom. First, enterprise cloud migration, digital payments, and streaming service growth require regional capacity to meet latency and sovereignty demands. Second, the rise of AI, from localized language models to enterprise inference farms, is intensifying the need for dense compute that is both scalable and economical.

According to McKinsey, the expansion of data centers is crucial for Africa’s businesses and consumers to achieve global competitiveness. Its latest report estimates that an investment of USD 10 billion to USD 20 billion in new capital is required to achieve this. As a result, this investment could unlock an estimated revenue pool of USD 20 billion to USD 30 billion across the data center value chain by 2030.

Furthermore, the firm projects that AI-driven demand for data center capacity could grow significantly, increasing by 3.5 to 5.5 times its current base within the same timeframe, translating to a total installed capacity of 1.5 to 2.2 GW by 2030.

The Infrastructure and Policy Hurdles

Despite the strong growth outlook, developers are contending with significant challenges. Power availability and grid stability remain the biggest obstacles to scaling quickly, often forcing projects to rely on costly hybrid energy setups that blend grid supply, on-site generation, and renewable sources.

By 2025, industry analysts had already identified power constraints as a major factor slowing data center rollouts across EMEA, highlighting why energy planning has become the decisive factor for African deployments.

Additional barriers include slow permitting processes, land acquisition difficulties, high import costs for specialized equipment, and a shortage of skilled technicians trained in modern data center operations.

For investors, managing these operational risks alongside rising demand will require stronger public–private collaboration and more innovative financing models.

Local Partnerships and the Path Forward

The coming five years will be critical for Nigeria and Egypt. By simplifying regulatory processes, strengthening grid infrastructure, and promoting green energy, both countries can establish themselves as leading data center hubs in Africa. For operators and cloud providers, achieving success will rely on providing reliable, sovereign, and energy-conscious capacity that supports both enterprise needs and AI-driven workloads.

Nigeria and Egypt are leading the charge, each offering distinct advantages that, together, are reshaping the continent’s digital backbone. The potential rewards are substantial: improved latency, local cloud sovereignty, and a strong foundation for AI-powered economies.


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