Econet starts on boarding clients to 5MW data centre

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has announced it will start onboarding its corporate clients to its newly-commissioned, state-of-the-art 5 megawatt (MW) data centre in Harare at the end of this month, marking a significant milestone in the country's digital infrastructure development.

The data centre - built in partnership with Africa Data Centres, the continent's largest data centre operator and a sister company to Econet - is poised to provide world-class cloud computing, storage, and cybersecurity services to Zimbabwean enterprises.

Speaking on the development, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe group CEO Douglas Mboweni said the data centre was designed to meet the highest standards of availability and security and will provide reliable support for businesses seeking robust digital operations.

"Clients will now be able to host their IT infrastructure in a facility that guarantees 100% power availability, removing the threat of load shedding from their operations," Mboweni said.

He added that companies will also benefit from a full suite of technology services, including cloud storage, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence tools from global leaders such as Google, Microsoft, and Palo Alto Networks - all affiliated with Econet's technology partner Cassava Technologies.

Zimbabwe's persistent power shortages have long been a challenge for businesses, especially those heavily reliant on technology and data services. Econet's new data centre promises to solve that problem.

"It's hard for a company to maintain proper computing capabilities under frequent load shedding," Mboweni said.
"This facility has multiple layers of power redundancy and meets the highest specifications. Clients no longer need to invest in on-premise servers - they can bring their servers to our centre, and we'll manage the rest."

He stressed that while Econet would manage the infrastructure, clients would retain full control of their systems, with the freedom to use their own IT teams on-site without interference.

Mboweni revealed that the 5MW facility is just the beginning. Econet plans to double the data centre's capacity to 10MW to meet growing demands from artificial intelligence and digital transformation trends sweeping across industries.

"As AI adoption increases, the demand for computing power and data storage will rise significantly. We're building to stay ahead of that curve," he said.

Located in Harare, the Econet Data Centre is expected to become a central hub for digital services in Zimbabwe and the wider Southern African region. Its launch brings Zimbabwe in line with other major African markets such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya, where Africa Data Centres already operates facilities in cities like Johannesburg, Lagos, and Nairobi.

A data centre is a secure, highly engineered facility that houses powerful servers and networking equipment to store, process, and distribute vast amounts of data. Businesses use them to ensure seamless and secure access to information, cloud-based tools, and critical applications.

The launch of this data centre aligns with Zimbabwe's vision of becoming a digitally-driven economy and supports the wider African Union goals of improved digital infrastructure and data sovereignty.