Zambian telco Paratus Zambia will soon open a new data center in the capital city Lusaka.

The 1MW facility is due for completion by the beginning of July 2021. The carrier-neutral facility will offer physical and virtual hosting services as well as opportunities for Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).

The company says the data center will offer businesses cloud computing that will ‘enhance operational efficiencies' and help ‘cut IT capital and operating costs that come with on-premise data storage and management.’

“We are demonstrating our commitment to deliver the best quality services within an ever-growing and transforming ITC sector,” said Paratus Zambia MD, Marius van Vuuren. “We are raising the bar with our investment in infrastructure and with this ultra-modern facility - because while there are other data centers, none are of this quality, standard, and capacity in Zambia.”

First announced in February, the project’s total investment is around $5.75 million (140 million Zambian Kwacha). Including the Zambia facility, Paratus has three data centers on the African continent and has plans to develop a fourth.

Last month CEO Barney Harmse revealed the company is developing a facility in Windhoek, Namibia with completion due in December 2022.

A recent report from The African Data Centres Association (ADCA) and Xalam Analytics claimed the rest of Africa needs 1,000MW and 700 facilities for the continent to match the data center density seen in South Africa.