Raxio inaugurates $30M DRC data center

Data center operator Raxio Group has inaugurated its newest data center in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), its fourth in Africa.

Raxio claims the facility in Kinshasa is the country's largest data center, with Tier III accreditation by international industry body, the Uptime Institute.

This follows last week's announcement of the DRC's first open-access carrier-neutral Tier 3 data center, launched via a joint venture between Open Access Data Centres (OADC) and Texaf.

Known as Raxio DRC1, the facility is backed by a $30 million investment, and Raxio believes it represents a pivotal milestone in the nation's 2025 "Plan National du Numérique," which aims to drive digital inclusion, foster private sector growth, and transform public services through digitalization.

The provision of data centers is one of the key pillars of the government's 2025 plan – improving the digital landscape through reduced latency for real-time applications and providing a reliable backbone for mobile and Internet connectivity.

Located in Limete on the southeast of Kinshasa, the two-story Raxio data center spans 1,542 square meters, can house up to 400 racks, and can reliably deliver 1.5MW of IT power to customer equipment.

Raxio Group CEO Robert Mullins said the inauguration of the Kinshasa data center marks a significant achievement for Raxio and a pivotal moment for the DRC's digital landscape.

"DRC is one of Africa's largest and fastest-growing markets with an existing latent demand for digital products and services that is forecast to soar in the coming years. With this facility, we are providing the critical infrastructure essential to supporting the digital economy and enhancing connectivity," he said.

"We expect to expand our presence in DRC through additional capacity and new facilities in years to come. Our investment reflects unwavering confidence in the DRC's immense potential and our commitment to sustainable digital development across Africa," Mullins added.

Raxio Group CEO Robert Mullins speaking at an event in Uganda in 2021. (Source: Raxio Group)

Raxio said the Kinshasa facility is ideally located along key fiber routes, offering colocation and connectivity services. It guaranteed "unmatched levels of efficiency" with multiple paths for power and cooling systems underpinning the center's Tier III certification.

The group said the project was completed in record time since breaking ground on construction in early 2023 after announcing the DRC project back in September 2022.

Pan-African digital backbone

Mullins was true to his word when he told Connecting Africa in May 2024 (during the launch of its data center in Mozambique) that the DRC facility would go live in August 2024.

Raxio previously launched data centers in Uganda and Ethiopia.

A data center in Côte d'Ivoire was scheduled to launch in July but has not yet been announced, while the Raxio data center in Angola is planned to open by the end of 2024 and there are plans for a data center in Tanzania.

Raxio claims to have the widest footprint of any data center provider on the continent and has a strategy to address the significant demand for high-quality data infrastructure across Africa.

"Raxio continues to see strong momentum behind the roll-out of its pan-African digital backbone. Appetite for data centre capacity is growing not just amongst local enterprises and the public sector, but increasingly from some of the world's largest hyperscale Cloud Service Providers, Content Delivery Networks and Mobile Network Operators as they strengthen their networks and market presence on the continent," Raxio said in a statement.

Raxio DRC General Manager Yannick Sukakumu said closing sub-Saharan Africa's connectivity gap is no longer a pipe dream – it is happening now.

"The commitment and pragmatism of the government has been a key enabling factor in spurring our project from inception to completion in record time and stands as an inspiration for the wider region in grasping this incredible opportunity for a broad-based digital economy expansion," Sukakumu added.

— Paula Gilbert, Editor, Connecting Africa