Nigeria Data Center - Market Share Analysis, Industry Trends & Statistics, Growth Forecasts (2024 - 2029)

Nigeria Data Center - Market Share Analysis, Industry Trends & Statistics, Growth Forecasts (2024 - 2029)

The Nigeria Data Center Market size is estimated at 116.7 MW in 2024, and is expected to reach 226.7 MW by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 14.20%. Further, the market is expected to generate colocation revenue of USD 251.1 Million in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 578.1 Million by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 18.15% during the forecast period (2024-2029).

Tier 3 holds the majority market share in 2023, and will continue to dominate in coming years

• As the data center market in Nigeria is still in its initial phase, service providers target to comply with Tier 3 norms to introduce Tier 3 colocation facilities in the region. Tier 3 facilities accounted for an IT load capacity of 51.44 MW in 2022 and are expected to register a CAGR of 23.42% to reach 224.44 MW by 2029.
• To make the facilities future-ready, Tier 3 certifications that offer reliable redundancy and other operational criteria help serve the long-term growth in the market. These facilities are expected to facilitate increasing demand in the region. As of January 2022, there were more than 100 million internet users in the country, with an internet penetration rate of 51%.
• Nigeria does not feature any Tier 1 and Tier 2 facilities, about the new and more capable Tier 3 facilities in the region. Similarly, with the network advancements and development for faster networks in the region, including the increasing infrastructure for 2G and 5G networks, the country should witness Tier 4 facilities too to accommodating the demand for deploying cloud-native new technologies like AI, ML, and IoT in the forecast period.
• The market is getting placed with Tier 4 facilities construction and not contributing completely to the market. This provides the overall scenario for future developments. In September 2022, Galaxy Backbone completed the construction of its Tier 4 data center facility, which would account for about 2.2 petabytes to provide cloud and disaster recovery services.

Nigeria Data Center Market Trends

increase in the use of smartphones, increasing use of online shopping platforms, and increase mobile internet data usage to boost market growth

• As companies were forced to switch to virtual platforms and related options for continuing work during the COVID-19 pandemic, it contributed to the increase in data usage among smartphone users.
• This could also be attributed to an increase in the use of smartphones as a preferred device to access the Internet. The data suggests that about 84.4% of Nigerians access the internet through smartphones and tablets, compared to 15.7% using desktops. Also, in 2020, Nigeria recorded online transactions worth about USD 12 billion through different media and platforms.
• Similar trends were observed in the buying trends of the customers, preferring online shopping platforms, which is another crucial factor contributing to the overall data traffic in the country. For instance, as of 2022, one of the major e-commerce service providers, jumia.com.ng, reported about 7.9 million visitors from Nigeria, comprising about 31% of the total visitors, despite its presence across 13 African countries. As a result, Nigerians prefer online platforms, indicating trends in data generation.
• In the third quarter of 2022, Nigeria recorded more than 5 million subscribers, adding to data consumption. The rate of subscriber addition with network upgrades and constant grid expansion adds to the overall mobile internet data usage. Network evolution, coupled with changing internet usage habits in Nigeria, would result in increased data traffic across smartphones.

Increasing mobile phone penetration and increasing mobile phone subscriptions to boost market growth

• While the mobile phone penetration rate is increasing in Nigeria, smartphone users account for about 10-20% of the total users. The country requires better smartphone penetration or more platforms to reach the masses, contributing to the demand for data generation and analysis.
• According to a report, smartphone penetration is expected to increase from 44% in 2021 to about 64% by 2025, which is higher than the Sub-Saharan African average penetration rate of 61% in 2025. Being one of the most populous countries in Africa, the population and rate of development would surely help increase the penetration rate.
• The data also suggests that new mobile subscriptions play a vital role in setting these trends. Nigeria projects promising numbers of new mobile phone subscribers, contributing to the overall smartphone penetration. The data suggested an increase of about 18 million mobile subscribers in the total subscribers in 2021 (515 million), which is one of the largest additions compared to other African countries.

Nigeria Data Center Industry Overview

The Nigeria Data Center Market is fairly consolidated, with the top five companies occupying 72.62%. The major players in this market are Africa Data Centers (Cassava Technologies), Digital Realty (Medallion Communications Ltd), MDXi (MainOne by Equinix), MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd and WIOCC (Open Access Data Centres) (sorted alphabetically).

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