Grid instability in several African markets, including scheduled load shedding and localised load reduction in South Africa and inconsistent grid capacity in markets like Nigeria, makes provider-managed, redundant power infrastructure a genuine operational advantage rather than a nice-to-have.
International connectivity into Africa is concentrated at a limited number of cable landing points, and colocating at or near a landing station gives direct access to that capacity without extra latency or backhaul cost.
For steady, predictable, high-utilisation workloads, colocation can offer more control over cost than continuous cloud billing, particularly once data egress fees are factored in.
Financial services, government and other regulated sectors increasingly need to keep data within a specific country or region, which colocation supports more directly than many cloud arrangements.
Africa's data centre sector is projected to attract $8.76 billion in additional investment by 2031, with the colocation segment specifically growing faster than the market overall, reflecting how quickly businesses across the continent are adopting this model.
Check whether the facility gives you equal access to multiple carriers, cloud platforms and internet exchanges, or whether you are tied to a single network relationship. A carrier-neutral or open-access facility gives you more flexibility to change providers later without relocating your hardware.
Tier ratings (such as Tier III) and security certifications (such as ISO 27001) are independent, third-party verifications of a facility's resilience and security practices, rather than marketing claims. Ask specifically which certifications are current, not just historically achieved, since some certifications require renewal.
Ask about the facility's power capacity, redundancy level (N versus N+1), and specifically how the facility is designed to handle grid disruptions in that market. This matters more in Africa than in most regions, given the power reliability challenges several markets face.
If you are running or planning any GPU-intensive or AI workloads, ask what cooling infrastructure the facility uses. Traditional air cooling struggles with the power density modern AI hardware requires, and not every facility has upgraded to liquid or hybrid cooling systems.
Ask whether the facility has direct access to relevant subsea cable systems, or whether traffic needs to be backhauled from elsewhere. Direct landing station access, or close proximity to one, generally means lower latency and fewer intermediary costs.
If your business operates across multiple African markets, consider whether a single provider can support you consistently across those markets. A provider with a wide footprint reduces the number of separate vendor relationships you need to manage as you expand.
Beyond certifications, ask about practical physical security measures: access control levels, monitoring, and how visitor and vendor access is managed on-site.
Ask how easily you can add capacity later, whether that means additional racks, higher power allocation, or expansion into a different location within the same provider's network, without renegotiating from scratch.
What certifications does this specific facility currently hold, and when were they last renewed?
What is the facility's power redundancy level, and how has it performed during past grid disruptions in this market?
Which carriers, cloud platforms and internet exchanges are already present on-site?
Does the facility have direct or proximate access to relevant subsea cable systems?
What cooling infrastructure is in place, and is it suitable for high-density or AI workloads if that is a future need?
What is included in the base quote, and what is billed separately?
How does the contract handle scaling up capacity, and what are the terms for adding a second location?
What physical security and access control measures are in place?
Confirm carrier neutrality or open-access model
Verify current Tier and ISO certifications directly, not just claimed history
Confirm power redundancy level and load-shedding or grid-disruption resilience
Check subsea cable access or proximity, if international connectivity matters to your business
Confirm cooling infrastructure suits your current and near-future workload density
Get a full cost breakdown, not just a headline rack price
Confirm scalability terms in writing before signing
Ask for references from existing clients in a similar industry or workload profile
Colocation means housing your own physical hardware in a third-party facility, while cloud hosting means renting virtual computing resources with no physical hardware of your own to manage. Many organisations use both together.
Evaluate carrier neutrality, current certifications, power redundancy and grid-disruption resilience, subsea cable access, cooling infrastructure, pricing structure and scalability terms, ideally using a written checklist rather than a single conversation.
It depends on your workload. For steady, predictable, high-utilisation workloads, colocation often works out more cost-effective over time. For variable or unpredictable demand, cloud's flexibility can still offer better value.
Look for Tier ratings such as Tier-III, which indicate infrastructure resilience, and ISO 27001, which indicates information security management standards. Confirm both are current rather than historically achieved.
