A carrier-neutral data centre operator for Mozambique

Mozambique

José Inácio Almeida, iColo’s general manager in Mozambique, talks to The Energy Year about the company’s growing in-country infrastructure and ongoing plans to deploy PV technology at data centres across Africa. iColo is a data centre provider that operates in Kenya and Mozambique.

What made Mozambique an attractive investment destination for iColo?
The median age in Mozambique is around 19 and it’s a country with growing demand for digital services. Given iColo’s heritage in building high-quality resilient data centres, establishing in Mozambique was an easy decision. We purpose-built a data centre in the heart of Maputo to land a new subsea cable system called 2Africa.

What have been the major developments since you started operating in the country?
Before 2009, there were no submarine cables that landed in Mozambique. Most of the connectivity was going through satellites or terrestrial links with South Africa. In 2010, the EASSy and SEACOM cables, which have a combined capacity of 10 TB, landed in Maputo which permanently changed the connectivity landscape.
We agreed with 2Africa to support the landing in Maputo and established our site by the end of 2022. 2Africa can potentially carry 180 TB and this opens up a lot of opportunities for operators and speciality ISPs [internet service providers]. This 45,000-kilometre-long cable is the first submarine cable that goes around the African continent whilst also connecting to Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
After establishing our data centre at Avenida Lenine, a few banks set up their production facility at our data centres. In addition, more than 13 networks have built their network PoPs at our site and connected to the site with dark fibre, including Paratus, Tmcel, Vodacom, TVCabo and ClubNet.

How does iColo distinguish itself from other competitors in the field?
Our technical know-how is immensely influenced by our parent company. Digital Realty is the largest data centre operator in the world, and we leverage their knowledge, processes, procedures and customer-specific protocols. We are the only carrier-neutral data centre operator located in Maputo City.

How can technology such as iColo’s MPM1 data centre help address the needs of energy companies?
Our three service pillars are continuous power, cooling and security. We provide this to our customers so they can focus on their core business. Being able to provide continuous green power is important for our customers. By integrating PV, we give customers a path to 100% renewable energy. As a result of our advanced facility, we bring in the latest technology in power and cooling, resulting in an improved experience for our suppliers.

What is your assessment of Mozambique’s progress towards digitalisation?
Mozambique is firmly committed to digitisation and has made some important contributions in that direction. We expect digital growth to be in line with overall trends in Africa though it would be useful if steps are taken to develop sector-specific regulations. The INCM [Instituto Nacional das Comunicações de Moçambique] regulates telecoms and the INTIC [Instituto Nacional de Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação] covers data centres and other roles.

How do iColo’s operations contribute to the development of digital infrastructure in the country?
Before our arrival, there was no sovereign cloud infrastructure in the country. With a carrier-neutral data centre, this became possible, and the first few cloud operators were set up in our data centre. In addition, we are not only doing colocation but also creating an ecosystem where everyone can easily interconnect.
If a financial services customer wants to exchange data with an insurance firm, telecommunications company or oil and gas company, they can interconnect quickly and securely inside of our facilities. We are in the process of bringing an internet exchange that will allow multiple operators to peer with each other.

What are some steps iColo is taking to reduce the carbon footprint of its operations in Mozambique?
We are using solar to power our data centres in Nairobi and Mombasa, with up to 1 MW of solar capacity deployed. Utilising solar energy is a testament to our commitment to sustainable energy and reducing our carbon footprint.

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