Digital transformation: Namibia wants to build a national data center
September 23rd 2025
Like many African countries, Namibia has made ICT one of the pillars of its socio-economic development. The government is strengthening its national digital infrastructure to this end.
The Namibian government is planning to create a national data center as part of its digital transformation. The initiative was announced last week by Emma Theofelus, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, during the presentation of government decisions aimed at accelerating the country’s digitalization.
The ministry, in collaboration with the Prime Minister’s Office, has been tasked with finalizing the concept note and project proposal for the creation of the data center. At this stage, the center’s precise specifications and capabilities have not yet been disclosed.
However, most similar installations recently installed in African countries such as Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire are at least Tier 3 according to the Uptime Institute’s standards, which assess the redundancy and availability of digital infrastructure. This level notably implies the presence of multiple power and cooling circuits, with annual downtime limited to approximately 1.6 hours. Tiers 4 and 5 offer much more redundancy with reduced downtime.
The announcement of the establishment of this infrastructure comes at a time when, according to the government, existing digital infrastructure is outdated or insufficient, as highlighted in the “National Digital Strategy Plan 2025-2029” launched last August. This plan aims to “leverage digital technologies for economic growth, social inclusion, and the overall progress of society.” It includes accelerating the development and accessibility of digital infrastructure by deploying high-quality, reliable facilities capable of covering a wide range of use cases, from access to essential services to advanced digital applications.
As a reminder, Namibia ranks 114th out of 193 countries on the United Nations e-Government Development Index (EGDI) 2024. The country recorded a score of 0.6007 out of 1, above the African average of 0.4247. However, it remains slightly below the global average of 0.6189.
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