Check whether the facility gives you equal access to multiple carriers, cloud platforms and internet exchanges, or whether you are tied to a single network relationship. A carrier-neutral or open-access facility gives you more flexibility to change providers later without relocating your hardware.
Tier ratings (such as Tier-III) and security certifications (such as ISO 27001) are independent, third-party verifications of a facility's resilience and security practices, rather than marketing claims. Ask specifically which certifications are current, not just historically achieved, since some certifications require renewal.
Ask about the facility's power capacity, redundancy level (N versus N+1), and specifically how the facility is designed to handle grid disruptions in that market. This matters more in Africa than in most regions, given the power reliability challenges several markets face.
Deliver secure, always-on digital services while supporting business-critical applications, regulatory requirements, and data sovereignty objectives through resilient infrastructure and vibrant connectivity ecosystems.
Check whether the facility gives you equal access to multiple carriers, cloud platforms and internet exchanges, or whether you are tied to a single network relationship. A carrier-neutral or open-access facility gives you more flexibility to change providers later without relocating your hardware.
Tier ratings (such as Tier III) and security certifications (such as ISO 27001) are independent, third-party verifications of a facility's resilience and security practices, rather than marketing claims. Ask specifically which certifications are current, not just historically achieved, since some certifications require renewal.
Ask about the facility's power capacity, redundancy level (N versus N+1), and specifically how the facility is designed to handle grid disruptions in that market. This matters more in Africa than in most regions, given the power reliability challenges several markets face.
If you are running or planning any GPU-intensive or AI workloads, ask what cooling infrastructure the facility uses. Traditional air cooling struggles with the power density modern AI hardware requires, and not every facility has upgraded to liquid or hybrid cooling systems.
Ask whether the facility has direct access to relevant subsea cable systems, or whether traffic needs to be backhauled from elsewhere. Direct landing station access, or close proximity to one, generally means lower latency and fewer intermediary costs.
If your business operates across multiple African markets, consider whether a single provider can support you consistently across those markets. A provider with a wide footprint reduces the number of separate vendor relationships you need to manage as you expand.
Beyond certifications, ask about practical physical security measures: access control levels, monitoring, and how visitor and vendor access is managed on-site.
Colocation pricing is typically quoted per facility and scales with rack space, power draw, redundancy level and contract length. Ask for a breakdown of what is included versus billed separately (cross-connects, remote hands, additional power draw) so you can compare quotes on a like-for-like basis.
Colocation pricing is typically quoted per facility and scales with rack space, power draw, redundancy level and contract length. Ask for a breakdown of what is included versus billed separately (cross-connects, remote hands, additional power draw) so you can compare quotes on a like-for-like basis.
Africa's data centre market has historically been shaped by two extremes: telecom-owned facilities built primarily to serve their own network's customers, and a small number of large, often foreign-owned hyperscale sites concentrated in a handful of major cities.
Open access was built as a deliberate alternative. Established in 2018 with development funding from the IFC and Proparco, OADC set out to build infrastructure that any market participant could plug into on equal terms, rather than infrastructure tied to one operator's commercial interests.
The model is also why OADC is now part-owned by ten major African telecom operators alongside private equity and development finance partners, the ownership structure mirrors the open, shared-access principle the facilities are built on.
A few practical features define the model in action:
Equal, unrestricted access for any carrier or network provider, with no exclusive arrangements that favour one over another.
Direct interconnection between clients on-site, rather than routing traffic externally to reach another provider in the same building.
A single facility acting as a meeting point for carriers, cloud platforms, internet exchanges and enterprises, reducing the number of separate vendor relationships a client needs to manage.
Consistency across the network, so the same open-access principles apply whether a client is colocating in Lagos, Johannesburg or Kinshasa.
For a business evaluating data centre partners in Africa, the open-access model translates into a few concrete advantages:
Instead of separate contracts for connectivity, cloud access and colocation, an open-access facility lets you reach most of what you need from a single site.
Because no single carrier or provider controls access, you retain the flexibility to change network partners without relocating your infrastructure.
Faster ecosystem access. New cloud platforms, carriers or partners joining the facility become available to you without a new commercial negotiation on your end.
Where power, connectivity and vendor availability can vary significantly by country, an open, shared-access facility reduces the operational complexity of expanding into a new market.
Not exactly. Carrier neutral refers specifically to a facility offering equal access to multiple network carriers. Open access describes a broader ecosystem model where carriers, cloud providers, internet exchanges and enterprises all interconnect on equal terms, of which carrier neutrality is one part.
OADC is part-owned by ten major African telecom operators, African Capital Alliance, and the IFC, reflecting the shared-access principle behind its operating model.
OAfabric is OADC's interconnection platform, extending the open-access model into virtual connectivity so clients can reach cloud providers and partners without a dedicated physical cross-connect for each relationship.
Yes. The same open-access principles apply consistently across OADC's core and edge facilities in Nigeria, the DRC and South Africa.
The two terms overlap but are not identical. Carrier-neutral describes a facility that gives equal access to multiple network carriers, rather than locking clients into a single provider. It is a property of the data centre's connectivity.
Open access goes further. It describes an entire ecosystem philosophy: a facility designed from the ground up to bring together carriers, cloud providers, internet exchanges, enterprises and other digital infrastructure players within one environment, with no party given preferential treatment or exclusive control over how others connect. Carrier neutrality is one expression of an open-access model, not the whole of it.
In practice, this means an OADC facility is not just a neutral meeting point for networks. It is a shared digital ecosystem where a bank, a cloud platform, an internet exchange and a telecom operator can all interconnect directly, on equal terms, without any one of them acting as gatekeeper for the others.
