African telecommunications company Liquid Telecom has opened “the largest and most sophisticated” carrier-neutral data center in East Africa.

The four-storey East Africa Data Centre facility a mains feed of 11KV backed by two generators, with 500 sq m of whitespace and room for 160 racks per floor.

East Africa Data Centre general manager Dan Kwach said the data center already provides space for a number of ISPs, mobile network operators, banks and cloud solutions providers.

He believes the facility will help foster the digital economy in East Africa, which has been growing in recent years thanks the rise of cloud services and mobile devices.

“Quality data centers are an important element in the creation of an independent African telecoms infrastructure,” Kwach said.

The data center has been designed to meet International Design Standards TIA-942 with a guaranteed uptime of 99.982% and connects to backbone and metro fiber networks offered by Tata, Level3 and Seacom.

Liquid Telecom said the build itself had to overcome typical challenges seen in the East African data center market, including connectivity, security and power supply.

The telco operates Africa’s largest single fiber network, which spreads 13,000km over Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, DRC, Lexotho and South Africa, covering some of Africa’s fastest growing economies.