Raxio set to construct Ethiopia’s first private data center

The first private data center in Ethiopia will be built through Raxio’s fully-owned subsidiary in Ethiopia, Raxio Data Centre PLC (“Raxio Ethiopia”), according to the press statement from the company. The country’s first private uptime certified Tier III colocation data center is expected to be commissioned in Q3 2021.



“Raxio Ethiopia will offer its customers an optimized environment for their IT equipment in a state of the art, modular facility, fully equipped with industry best in technology, security, AC/DC power compatibility and redundancy. Customers will be able to cross connect with local and international carriers and other customers in specially-designed meet-me rooms, making Raxio Ethiopia an integral backbone to the country’s digital economy,” the statement said.

“Following the holistic reform that our nation is undergoing, new mobile operators are expected to be licensed soon; as a result, our internet usage is projected to rapidly grow. It is our belief that Raxio Ethiopia will play a paramount role in strengthening and developing the country’s digital infrastructure capabilities. We consider our corporation’s collaboration with Raxio in the development of the ICT Park, which is expected to contribute to the significant growth of the ICT sector, as a great achievement” says Sandokan Debebe, CEO of Industrial Parks Development Corporation.

With its investment and project plans completed in late 2019 and initial design underway, Raxio signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) in December 2019. The MOU formalized Raxio’s investment plans and the EIC’s commitment to support Raxio in operationalizing its plans, including availing the required land within the ICT Park, on the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

Raxio Ethiopia will sequentially deploy its modules to accommodate an IT-capacity of 1.5MW over the next few years, with the possibility of doubling capacity to 3.0MW as needs grow. Robert Mullins, President of Raxio Group, states that “Raxio’s facilities enable companies such as mobile network operators, content delivery networks and financial service providers to run their critical IT systems in a built-for-purpose, always-on environment. With our module build, we will be able to support growth quickly and tailor our build to the needs of our customers.”



“Raxio Ethiopia will provide a critical and missing part of the nation’s digital infrastructure at an exciting and fast-evolving time in the broader telecoms sector in the country. We are pleased to be moving forward with developing Ethiopia’s first privately owned data center and to have collaborated closely with the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), the Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC) and the ICT Park in reaching this important milestone,” he said.

Raxio Group is a portfolio company of US-based investment firm, Roha Group Inc, which focuses on responsibly investing in and building profitable businesses across Africa. Raxio Group, through its operating brand Raxio, is East and Southern Africa’s premier platform of carrier neutral, colocation, Tier III data centers.

Its first data center investment – Raxio Data Centre Ltd in Uganda – is currently under development and scheduled to commercially launch at the end of 2020. Its second data center investment – Raxio Data Centre PLC in Ethiopia – was established at the end of 2019 and is expected to be operational by Q3 of 2021. In addition, investment plans are in place to establish a network of data centers across the East and Southern Africa region by 2022.