MTN seeks international partners for AI-dedicated data centers
September 19th 2025
With digital transformation, African telecom operators are seeking to diversify their services to meet growing demand. Data centers are one of these new segments.
South African telecoms company MTN has entered into discussions with American and European companies to develop data centers designed for artificial intelligence in Africa, its chief executive Ralph Mupita said in an interview cited by Bloomberg. The initiative illustrates the operator’s ambitions in the AI segment, about two months after revealing a strategy in this area.
According to Mr. Mupita, MTN expects to finalize the agreements by the end of the year. The group will directly finance part of the necessary investments and is banking on a model combining construction of facilities, hosting of AI providers and leasing of computing capacity to African companies and governments. However, the identities of the potential partners were not revealed.
This search for partners is in line with the company’s stated desire to enter the African data center market, shared with other telecom groups such as Airtel Africa and Orange. The company inaugurated the first phase of a data center in Nigeria on July 1.
This initiative comes amid a digital transformation marked by growing demand but insufficient supply. As of mid-2023, Africa still accounted for less than 2% of the global supply of colocation data centers, more than half of which is concentrated in South Africa, according to the “Data Centers in Africa Focus Report” published by Oxford Business Group in April 2024. The same source estimates that the African continent needs around 1,000 MW of capacity and 700 additional facilities to meet demand.
“AI is no longer just an enabler – it is the engine that is redefining business, value creation and the rules of global innovation and competitiveness ,” said Mazen Mroué, MTN’s Chief Executive Officer: MTN Digital Infrastructure, Group Chief Technology and Information Officer. “AI is not just about automation – it aims to enhance human potential, become increasingly natural part of our daily activities, decisions and experiences, and transform the way we live and work,” he added in a statement released last July.
In this context, dedicated AI data centers are becoming crucial given the growing adoption of AI on the continent, which is seen as a catalyst for productivity and economic attractiveness. According to PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence Study, cited by MTN, AI is expected to add USD 15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. The operator also cites a report by SAP, which predicts that AI could add USD 1.5 trillion to the continent’s economy by 2030, assuming it captures 10% of the global market.
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