Brazil's Um Telecom has launched a separate unit for its data center operations.

Named Atlantic Data Centers, the data center subsidiary will be headed up by Um Telecom executives Daniel Gomes and Joselito Bergamaschine, who will assume the roles of president and vice president, respectively.

Atlantic Data Centers’ first project will be the Recife1 data center, located in the Pernambuco Electronics and Associated Technologies Technology Park (Parqtel) in the Várzea neighborhood of Recife, Brazil.

With a total investment of R$300 million (US$49.9m), Recife1 will be developed in three phases across a total area of almost 14,000 sqm (150,694 sq ft).

Plans for the data center were first announced in September 2022, with the telco securing $7.6 million of funding from the country’s national bank in June last year.

The first phase will see 1MW of IT capacity set live across 150 racks. The next two phases are projected to take the facility to a total of 6MW of IT capacity. Other specifications have not yet been shared.

The project will be partially powered by solar energy, with generation coming from Um Telecom’s photovoltaic plant in São Caetano, in the Pernambuco countryside. The plant spans around 1 hectare and is capable of generating 120,000 kWh/month.

“This important digital ecosystem, which will have Tier III certification, reinforces Um Telecom's commitment to transforming Pernambuco into a data hub, contributing to the decentralization of critical infrastructures in the country, consolidating Brazil as a provider of data center services for the entire world”, said Rui Gomes, CEO of Um Telecom.

Founded in 2010, Um Telecom is headquartered in Recife and has more than 16,000km of optical fiber installed throughout the Northeast region.

According to Datacenter Map, there are two data centers located in the city of Recife, belonging to Surfix and HOTlink. The city is the state capital of Pernambuco.

A version of this story is available on our Brazilian website.