Nigerian telecoms firm MainOne has announced plans to expand its data center footprint across west Africa.

The Lagos-based company plans to almost double storage capacity through its MDXi data center subsidiary over the next two years

The company will increase the capacity of data centers from around 700 racks to 900 racks next year, Emmanuel Kwarteng, country manager for Ghana told Bloomberg, with an additional 300 racks by 2023 if demand is sustained.

MainOne is building a 130-rack facility in Lagos due for completion later this year, and plans to add a 50-rack center in Cote d’Ivoire in 2022, as well as expand its 104-rack Ghana facility to 400 racks by 2023. The company is also looking to extend services to more countries including Liberia over the next three years

“We see the data center market growing a lot in Ghana and Nigeria, with demand from financial institutions, manufacturers, oil and gas companies, and enterprises,” Kwarteng said. Demand in Ghana is reportedly being driven by institutions seeking to comply with government requirements to store their data locally, as well as in primary and back-up facilities.

Launched in 2010, MainOne provides network and connectivity services across west Africa, and provides colocation through its MXDi brand.