PAIX and NSIA Technologies make a West African Joint Venture

PAIX Data Centres and NSIA Technologies have formed a joint venture to run carrier neutral data centers in two African countries. The pair will develop and operate two data centers in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire and Dakar, Senegal under the PAIX brand.

The joint venture will acquire NSIA Technologies’ Abidjan data center as well develop a second one in Dakar. The partnership will cover activities in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

Colocation services will be offered to telecom companies, internet service providers and financial institutions. PAIX’s move follows its recent investment in RackAfrica in Accra, Ghana earlier this year. The new joint venture will allow NSIA Technologies to focus on its core IT services business.

Ange Diagou, CEO at NSIA Technologies, said: “Our partnership with PAIX will ensure that we bring world class carrier neutral data center operations to a variety of countries. We look forward to supporting the rapid development of e-commerce and financial markets in West Africa.”

Wouter van Hulten, CEO at PAIX, said: “West Africa is a region of the continent with a big growing demand for online services, and, consequently, a reliable infrastructure. And Côte d’Ivoire is a key regional network hub for West Africa.”

As for PAIX’s move in Ghana this year, the RackAfrica business offers another regional hub that is created by the aggregation of multiple undersea cable landing points connecting to terrestrial cables on the African continent. PAIX Data Centres is headquartered in Amsterdam.

Last month, MainOne, one of Africa’s largest connectivity and data center services providers, was granted a license to land its submarine cable and build transmission infrastructure in Cote d’Ivoire, as part of a $20m investment in the country.