India's Airtel has broken ground on a 44MW data center in Kenya.

Airtel Africa, the telco’s African subsidiary, and Nxtra, the telco’s data center arm, will be responsible for development.

The facility is located in Tatu City, a special economic zone outside Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Companies based within the city pay low corporate taxes, are exempt from import duty and stamp duty, and can benefit from VAT zero-rating on goods and services.

The city also claims that 95 percent of its energy is renewable, with a third of its demand met by solar power.

As reported by Bizna Kenya, the data center will be developed in two phases, with each offering 22MW at completion. It is set to be operational by Q1 2027.

It has also been reported that this data center will be the country’s largest by capacity.

According to Citizen TV Kenya, the facility will see 19 billion KES ($147 million) of investment.

Airtel launched Nxtra Data Centers in Africa in January of last year. Nxtra is jointly owned by Airtel Africa and Carlyle, with the latter taking a 24 percent stake.

Separate from Nxtra, Airtel Africa already has 40 Edge data centers on the continent. The Nxtra Data Center business also has a presence in India, the home country of Bharti Airtel, where it operates 12 data centers and 120 Edge facilities or Points-of-Presence.

Airtel is one of the biggest telcos in Africa, operating in several markets, and has more than 166 million subscribers across the continent.

Most of Kenya’s data centers are located around Nairobi, which is home to rival operators including Safaricom, iXAfrica, and Digital Realty.