Data centre services giant Equinix has announced a massive $140 million investment to strengthen Nigeria’s digital infrastructure.
This initiative aims to enhance connectivity across southern Nigeria over the next two years, with a particular focus on Port Harcourt and Lagos.
The company is expanding its reach in Nigeria, following its $320 million acquisition of MainOne in 2022. This acquisition allowed Equinix to enter the West African market, and now, the $140 million investment is aimed at decentralising the country’s digital infrastructure, which has been long dominated by Lagos.
By setting up its first data centre in Port Harcourt and scaling its third Lagos facility, Equinix seeks to alleviate the over-concentration of data infrastructure in the commercial hub.
“This move is not just about expansion; it’s about equity in access to digital infrastructure,” said Wole Abu, managing director of Equinix West Africa. “We’re creating redundancy and expanding bandwidth capacity, which will have a ripple effect on the region’s digital economy.”
The new Port Harcourt data centre, PR1, will also serve as the first landing station for Meta’s 2Africa submarine cable in Nigeria. This cable, which is one of the most advanced global systems, will increase the region’s bandwidth capacity significantly.
Equinix’s focus is to reduce Lagos’ monopoly on digital infrastructure, and this investment seeks to create new growth corridors for Nigeria’s digital economy.
While Nigeria’s digital sector has made great strides in the past two decades, there’s still much work ahead. Mobile subscriptions have surged from zero to over 140 million since the 2001 GSM licence auction, and data infrastructure has blossomed with the introduction of fibre-optic networks and tower companies.
However, much of this infrastructure is still based in Lagos, leaving regions like Port Harcourt and others in southern Nigeria underconnected.
The arrival of major international companies such as Equinix has started to shift the balance, but the country’s broadband penetration, according to the National Broadband Plan, still lags behind. While the plan targets 70% broadband penetration by 2025, Nigeria is currently sitting at 45%, meaning there’s a long way to go to achieve full coverage.
“Equinix’s investment is a step in the right direction,” says Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former finance minister of Nigeria. “By investing in new data centres and connectivity, the company is supporting Nigeria’s push for more inclusive and reliable digital infrastructure that can support the economy’s growth.”
But the challenges don’t stop at the coastline. While Nigeria’s major cities benefit from the latest subsea cables like the 2Africa and Google’s Equiano, the inland regions still face a lack of middle-mile infrastructure. This vital fibre-optic network links the cable landing stations to the rest of the country, and without it, Nigeria risks facing a fragmented digital ecosystem.
The government, however, is not sitting idle. The Federal Ministry of Communications has launched the Broadband Alliance, an initiative to expand fibre networks across Nigeria. A key aim is to ensure that internet services reach all regions, even the underserved areas far from the coastal landing points.
Equinix’s expansion is not just about addressing infrastructure gaps but about building resilience in Nigeria’s digital economy. In response to potential threats such as cable damage from underwater rockslides, Equinix has implemented a strategy to route traffic across multiple cables in an active/active setup, ensuring that disruptions will go unnoticed by customers.
“Our goal is to ensure resilience,” Wole Abu explained. “By improving infrastructure redundancy, we aim to prevent any future disruption from impacting the experience of our customers.”
This expansion into Port Harcourt also spells out a comprehensive strategy of decentralising internet access across Nigeria. In taking these steps, Equinix is taking up a big part in the country’s movement to diversify its digital economy and close the digital divide that has plagued the nation for years.
This initiative will go beyond contributing to Nigeria’s digital capacity to also enable economic opportunities in regions that have long been sidelined in the country’s tech-driven future. With Equinix’s new facilities and greater international connectivity, the hope is that other private sector players will follow suit, accelerating Nigeria’s digital transformation.
