Nigeria's telecoms services and network solutions provider, MainOne, finally opened its premier Tier-III Lekki Data Centre on Thursday.

The construction of the data centre began in 2013, and it was reported to be largest of its kind in West Africa at 1,500 square metres with a 600-rack capacity.

In a statement MainOne said the facility would address the growing demand for colocation, cloud and disaster recovery services in West Africa.

Furthermore the new centre is expected to be managed under a new subsidiary branded as MDX-i, notes the statement.

Speaking at the launch, the chairman of MainOne, Fola Adeola said his company is committed to nurture the growth and impact of the internet ecosystem through the provision of high-quality infrastructure to power businesses and governments across West Africa.

Chief executive officer of MainOne, Funke Opeke said, "We are delighted to launch West Africa's largest and best-connected data centre. This reaffirms our capabilities in meeting the needs of business for reliable connectivity and data centre services in a dynamic and fast paced global economy"

According to the statement Nigeria's minister of communications technology, Omobola Johnson was also in attendance for the facility's opening ceremony, and said the launch of the MDX-i data centre facility is a notable accomplishment that complements initiatives required to further drive the realization of the national broadband plan Nigeria.

"Availability of world class data centers in Nigeria is critical infrastructure required for the implementation of our broadband initiatives. The accomplishment by MainOne is indeed significant as it provides an outsourcing and cost effective model to further drive ICT adoption," said Johnson.