Rack Centre CEO, Lars Johannisson.

TelCables Nigeria, a subsidiary of Angola Cables, will open a new point of presence (PoP) at the Lagos Rack Centre facility to provide low-latency interconnectivity and cloud access across West Africa.

According to Fernando Fernandes, CEO of TelCables Nigeria and West Africa, the goal of this strategic expansion is to significantly improve digital connectivity across West Africa by leveraging the extensive Angola Cables backbone network to help businesses and communities gain easier, more affordable access to digital content and services.

"The new PoP at Rack Centre represents a crucial step towards strengthening the digital infrastructure of West Africa, providing faster, more reliable internet access to local enterprises, government institutions, and individuals by localising traffic," according to Fernandes.

He noted that with direct access to Angola Cables' SACS and Wacs subsea cable connections, data traffic may be routed more efficiently to South American and US markets, as well as Europe, via EllaLink as a regular routing option or as a redundancy option if traffic needs to be redirected.

Rack Centre CEO Lars Johannisson stated that the Rack Centre Lagos site, which is now being enlarged with the addition of the LGS 2 Data Centre, is nearing completion, boosting the complex's capacity to 13.5MW of IT power and 7200 meters of space.

"The significance of this is that once completed, operators like TelCables , hyperscalers, businesses, telecom operators, and service providers will have access to world-class carrier and cloud-neutral infrastructure to securely scale their digital operations, ultimately fostering economic growth in Nigeria and the West Africa region," explained Johannisson.

Rack Centre Lagos currently hosts over 68 telecommunication carriers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and global Tier 1 networks.

Johannisson stated that the LGS 2 data centre was also designed to provide AI readiness, allowing for improved data processing and storage capabilities, which are crucial for enterprises and organisations that are adopting artificial intelligence and machine learning.

“The is a major step for Africa’s digital development as access to the infrastructure necessary to drive and expand digital ecosystems across the continent, boost innovation and ultimately drive economic growth within Nigeria and across the continent will be readily available.

“TelCables, powered by the Angola Cables network is a growing entity within the Nigerian geography, and we firmly believe that collaboration is the key in building and promoting resilient and efficient digital infrastructure. Our partnership with Rack Centre is part of a greater vision, and if we can do this together, we are setting the right course for Africa’s future prosperity as a contributor to the rapidly evolving digital economy,” Fernandes said.