Colt Data Centre Services to launch in Chennai, expand Mumbai operations with $750m

Colt Data Centre Services (DCS) of the United Kingdom intends to open a new unit in Chennai and invest $750 million to expand the capacity of its first unit in Mumbai, according to a senior company official. In five to seven years, India is anticipated to account for one-third of the company's revenue. In the first phase, the company spent roughly $115 million to bring its Mumbai data center with a 22MW capacity online. This will be increased progressively to 120MW. The capacity will primarily be sold to cloud service providers and significant enterprises in the BFSI, media, and over-the-top (OTT) businesses.

Today, between 40 and 50 percent of Colt's commerce comes from Japan, with Europe driving the remainder. The company also cites Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Oracle as its main growth drivers, citing their enormous data center needs as the reason for 80% of the new business they collectively bring.

The head of Colt DCS India noted that India accounts for approximately 14 to 15% of global internet consumers but only 6% of data centers.