Meta deepens commitment to Africa’s connectivity with new data centres, cable investments

Meta is ramping up its support for Africa’s digital transformation by investing in new data centres and subsea cable infrastructure as the continent’s online population continues to surge.

At the launch of Digital Realty’s new Lagos facility (LKK2), held recently in Lekki, Ben Ryall, Meta’s edge strategy manager, stated that “reliable connectivity is essential to unlocking economic growth, financial inclusion, and social development across Africa.

“With Africa projected to reach 2.1 billion inhabitants by 2050, its youthful population represents both a challenge and a huge opportunity.” Ryall described Sub-Saharan Africa as the last continent yet to be fully connected, citing the meteoric rise of mobile money as just one success story driven by better internet infrastructure.

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LKK2 introduces nearly 2 MW of IT capacity across 13,000 sq ft, complementing the existing LKK1 site, which houses a landing station for the 2Africa subsea cable.

Together, these sites offer connectivity across more than 46 cable landing stations in 33 countries spanning Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, positioning Nigeria as a key regional digital hub.

Meta’s investment in the 2Africa subsea cable, co-owned by major telecom operators, boosts redundancy, scales capacity, and reduces dependency on single-route systems. This lays a stronger foundation for services like online learning, telemedicine, e-commerce, and social networks across the continent.

Meta’s footprint isn’t limited to Nigeria as the firm noted plans to extend its infrastructure efforts to Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and several other underserved markets with a goal: ‘building open, sustainable, and resilient digital infrastructure that unlocks Africa’s potential.”