African IT solutions and internet provider AccessKenya Group, which is currently subject to an unconditional buyout by DimensionData, is building a new data center in Mombasa, Kenya’s second largest city.
The data center will add to an existing facility at a site where AccessKenya already operates a data center, which has already had Sh8m spent on new equipment and additional space to meet rising demand.
It said the new facility, built as Phase II, will cost Sh25m to complete and work will be complete some time in 2014.
AccessKenya CTO Raymond Macharia said already commissioned project will also enhance the expansion of the company’s metropolitan and fiver optic network across the country.
The provider owns and operates a 450km carrier ethernet fiber optic network in Nairobi and Mombasa, which connects more than 550 commercial buildings.
The growth in broadband service use across Africa means AccessKenya plans to connect a majority of the 47 counties in Kenya to its fiber and wireless network by the end of 2015, and it is already connecting an additional ten countries to its network this year.
“We are looking at opportunities in the provision of colocation services to our Mombasa clients as well as satisfying both our own business continuity needs and those of our Nairobi based clientele,” Macharia said.
The second site will play a large part in AccessKenya’s availability offering, acting as a stand in if issues occur at one of the company’s primary locations.
Dimension Data has put forward R328m to acquire the company, which is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The deal will see it become majority shareholder in the company.
Kenya seems to be gaining attention from data center investors in recent years.
In April, the founder of IXEurope, which sold to Equinix for £270m in 2007, said they will be establishing a data center – IXAfrica – in the country.
Kenya Data Networks also opened a new data center for hosting and other services in September 2011.