Data Centres & Networks

Southeast Asian data centre operator Bridge Data Centres (BDC) says it has signed an electricity supply agreement (ESA) with Malaysian energy company TNB to supply renewable energy for its planned hyperscale data centre in Johor.

Optical networking vendor Ciena says that HGC Global Communications is deploying its connectivity solutions to support the telco's recently announced data centre interconnect (DCI) service in the Philippines.

Underlining Saudi Arabia’s reputation as the fastest-growing data centre market in the Middle East are no fewer than three data centre-related announcements this week.

Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS) and Indian realty firm RMZ announced on Tuesday that they have formed a joint venture to invest US$1.7 billion in data centre development in India.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) says its India unit has broken ground on its edge data centre in Jaipur, which also marks its entry into India’s edge data centre market.

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) announced this week it will be expanding its interconnection footprint in Africa early next year with a new internet exchange point (IXP) in Ghana and its second IXP in Kenya.

Digital infrastructure platform Empyrion Digital has announced its strategic expansion into Thailand to develop a minimum 12MW (IT load) edge co-location data centre in Bangkok. It’s Empyrion Digital’s first major investment in Southeast Asia following its establishment in Singapore in 2021.

Telekom Malaysia’s wholesale arm TM Global said on Monday it will expand its core data centres in Cyberjaya and Johor  to serve growing demand for domestic and international data hosting services.

Bharti Airtel’s data centre arm Nxtra says it is deploying AI in its data centres to improve operations and power consumption, and also claims to be the first data centre operator in India to do so.

Digital infrastructure company Equinix has officially opened what it describes as its state-of-the-art data centre in Salalah, Oman, built in cooperation with integrated telecommunications services provider Omantel.

Following this week’s news that GDS International received approval to build a hyperscale data centre in Thailand, GDS officially announced on Tuesday it will invest up to US$1 billion over the next five years in the project, and has signed a partnership deal with real estate developer Amata for the site in Chonburi.

Funke Opeke, founder and CEO of Nigerian internet connectivity giant MainOne, has stepped down from her role after 14 years – two years after digital infrastructure business Equinix bought her company, albeit news reports indicate that the completion of MainOne’s full integration with Equinix, was more recent, taking place this month.

Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) says it has approved 66.2 billion baht (US$1.96 billion) worth of investments for new data centre projects in Chonburi Province backed by Google and China’s GDS.

Nokia has announced that Vietnam’s largest service provider, Viettel, will use its optical transport solution to cost-effectively address growing demand for 5G and data centre interconnect (DCI), consumer data consumption, and cross-border connectivity.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) Philippines said on Thursday that the first phase of operations for its upcoming STT Fairview 1 hyperscale data centre is on track to be ready for service by the second quarter of 2025.

Digital infrastructure company Equinix announced on Tuesday it will invest around US$500 million in phases over the next ten years to cash in on Thailand's bustling data centre scene, starting with two new IBX data centres in Bangkok.

Odata, a Brazilian provider of data centre services for Latin America that is controlled by US group Aligned Data Centres, is reportedly investing US$1.3 billion to develop two more data centres in Colombia.

Digital infrastructure company Equinix announced it has opened its first International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre in South Africa, and is already onboarding new customers and partners.

Indian state-owned telco BSNL is reportedly planning to lease out its land assets to data centre operators and renewable energy firms as part of a broader strategy to turn around its flagging telecoms business.

V.tal, a global end-to-end digital infrastructure solutions company operating in the Americas and owner of the largest neutral fibre optic network in Brazil, has unveiled the new brand for its data centre business unit, Tecto Data Centres.

Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications (HGC) says it has officially launched data centre interconnect (DCI) clusters in key data hubs across Asia to position itself as a major regional provider of in-country and inter-country data centre connectivity.

Colt Technology Services says it has formed a partnership with Telecom Egypt to launch two new high-speed internet transit nodes in Cairo and Alexandria that will enable both firms to offer digital services to customers across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

PLDT Group’s data centre arm Vitro, a subsidiary of ePLDT, and Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications said on Monday they have formed a strategic partnership to improve data centre connectivity in the Philippines.

UAE-based Edgnex Data Centres by DAMAC says it has formed a joint venture with Thai ISP Proen Corp to invest over THB32 billion baht (US$962 million) in several data centre development projects in Thailand.

Technology innovation giant Nokia and Furukawa Electric LatAm, a communications infrastructure solutions manufacturer, have announced plans to expanded their partnership, which was established in 2022, to immediately bring high-performance solutions in data centre automation to Brazil.

This week saw a significant agreement in the Middle Eastern data centre market as INTRO Technology announced the signing of a strategic memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Oman Data Park, the largest data centre and cloud service provide in Oman, to establish what us to be known as the Kemet data centre in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

Internet exchange operator DE-CIX has struck a deal to enter the South American market via Brazil’s Elea Data Centers, which will host its first two IX PoPs in Brazil.

In what may seem an unusual form of diversification, Pakistan’s Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) has said it plans to invest in the establishment of data centres, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and related technology ventures.

Data centre operator Raxio Group says it has inaugurated Raxio Côte d’Ivoire (CIV1), described as a state-of-the-art data centre, in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

Qatar-based Ooredoo Group announced on Tuesday it has signed a QAR 2 billion (US$549.4 million) financing deal to help fund its plan to accelerate its data centre business and establish itself as an AI infrastructure heavyweight in the MENA region.

Data centre provider Princeton Digital Group (PDG), a major player in the Asian market, says it has acquired powered land for 500MW capacity expansion in key markets across Asia.