According to DCD, Digital Realty announced on October 31 that it will establish its first data center in Ghana, located in the capital city of Accra at Bank Street and Prof. Atta Mills High Street near the Achimota Forest Reserve. The 1,100 square meter ACR2 facility will deliver 1.7MW of installed IT capacity for colocation services, with Ghana managing director Joseph Koranteng emphasizing that “enterprises no longer have to choose between compliance and performance.” Digital Realty has invested over $2 billion across Africa with existing presence in Nigeria, Kenya, Mozambique, and South Africa, while Ghana currently hosts only five data centers around Accra including operators like Equinix, Onix, and PAIX. This expansion comes as Digital Realty recently appointed former private equity fund manager Marcel Louw as regional lead for its Africa division, signaling continued investment in the continent’s digital infrastructure.
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West Africa’s Digital Gateway Play
Digital Realty’s Ghana move represents a classic first-mover advantage play in an underserved but strategically positioned market. Ghana serves as a natural hub for West African digital traffic, with submarine cable landings from multiple international systems including the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) and MainOne cables. By establishing presence before major cloud providers like AWS and Microsoft Azure build their own infrastructure, Digital Realty positions itself as the inevitable partner when these hyperscalers eventually expand into Ghana. The location near financial institutions in Accra’s business district is particularly strategic for serving banking and financial services clients who require low-latency connectivity and data sovereignty compliance.
The Data Residency Revenue Opportunity
Joseph Koranteng’s statement about enterprises not choosing between compliance and performance reveals the core business model here. Ghana’s Data Protection Act and growing regulatory framework create mandatory demand for local data hosting from financial institutions, telecommunications companies, and government agencies. Digital Realty can command premium pricing for colocation services that enable multinational corporations to comply with local data laws while maintaining global connectivity through Digital Realty’s ServiceFabric platform. This creates a captive market where enterprises have limited alternatives for enterprise-grade data center services meeting international standards.
Why Ghana Now? The Continental Digital Transformation
The timing aligns perfectly with Africa’s accelerating digital transformation. Ghana’s internet economy is growing at approximately 8% annually, driven by mobile money adoption, fintech expansion, and government digitalization initiatives. Digital Realty’s $2+ billion continental investment indicates they see Africa as a long-term growth market rather than speculative positioning. The appointment of Marcel Louw, with his private equity background, suggests Digital Realty is preparing for more strategic acquisitions or partnerships across Africa. Ghana represents a relatively stable political environment with improving power infrastructure and growing digital literacy, making it a lower-risk entry point compared to some neighboring markets.
Navigating Ghana’s Nascent Data Center Market
With only five data centers in the Accra area, Digital Realty enters a market where competition remains limited but established players like Equinix have first-mover advantage. However, the 1.7MW capacity suggests Digital Realty is starting conservatively, testing demand before committing to larger investments. The company’s global scale gives it advantages in procurement, energy efficiency, and cross-connect ecosystems that local operators cannot match. This creates a classic innovator’s dilemma scenario where Digital Realty can initially coexist with smaller operators while gradually capturing market share as enterprise requirements become more sophisticated and global connectivity becomes more critical.
The African Digital Infrastructure Race Accelerates
Digital Realty’s Ghana expansion signals that the race for African digital infrastructure is entering its next phase. After establishing beachheads in major markets like South Africa and Nigeria, secondary markets like Ghana represent the next frontier. We should expect similar announcements targeting other emerging African tech hubs like Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania within the next 12-18 months. The real competition will emerge when African telecom giants and regional players scale up their data center investments, potentially creating consolidation opportunities for global operators like Digital Realty. The company’s measured approach—starting with 1.7MW rather than massive capacity—shows they’re learning from past emerging market expansions where overbuilding led to prolonged ROI timelines.
