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MDXi claims N12.2b data centre investment as Medallion takes operation to Enugu

By Adeyemi Adepetun
27 February 2018   |   4:20 am
Following its plan to inject N2.5 billion into its data centre operations in Nigeria, MDXi’s investment stake has moved from N10.7 billion in phase one to N12.2 billion in the new plan.

Gbenga Adegbiji

Following its plan to inject N2.5 billion into its data centre operations in Nigeria, MDXi’s investment stake has moved from N10.7 billion in phase one to N12.2 billion in the new plan.

This fresh investment will raise its capacity in local data hosting from 300 to 600 racks.

The General Manager, MDXi, Gbenga Adegbiji, who disclosed this in Lagos, said the need for expansion was based on customer’s demand, having occupied almost all the available space lefty in the existing 300 rack space that was built in 2015, during the first phase construction of its data centre located in Lekki axis of Lagos.

In a related development, Medallion Communications Limited said it is expanding its Interconnect and Data Centre infrastructure to Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano and Asaba in an effort to accommodate more service providers in other parts of Nigeria.

Adegbiji added that since 2015 when MDXi data centre was launched, the management had spent a total of $35 million, estimated at N10.7 billion in current naira valuation, the company has sunk into building capacity in the last five years to create a world class data service centre.

In a passionate message to the Federal Government, the GM said the time has come for government to make stronger policies to ensure that private sector and organs of state host very important critical national data for security and economic reasons.

“Government must know the importance of data domestication in Nigeria. When data is hosted abroad the outside world gets our data before us because they have access to it,” he said, adding that Nigerian Banks now know the value of local data hosting.

“Over 70 per cent of Nigerian Banks host data at MDXi and out of the 22 banks in Nigeria, 21 among them have something to do with MDXi data centre. MDXi expansion from 300 racks to 600 racks is as a result of increasing customer needs”, he stated.

The CEO of Medallion, Ikechukwu Nnamani, who disclosed this, said the expansion, which is in phases will help boost the experience of telecom users across the country.

“Apart from our Data Centre in Lagos and Abuja, we are also on the verge of expanding the infrastructure to other parts of the country,” he disclosed.

He noted that the expansion is majorly part of the company’s plan to fortify it in readiness for a possible surge that would be experienced by infrastructure companies as a result of the advocacy for local hosting of data and content.

“The biggest push we are making this year is to expand our available infrastructure and services to other regions so they can also participate and benefit. We believe that the moment you get content closer to the users, you achieve two things: better user experience at a faster and better rate and lowering the cost,” Ikechukwu noted.

According to him, Enugu and Port-Harcourt would start operations in the first quarter of 2018, while Ibadan, Kano and Asaba will be operational before the end of third quarter this year.

He argued that a lot of infrastructure is still domicile in Lagos, leaving other parts of the country less attractive in terms of telecom services. He believes that a win-win situation remains the best offer for the industry, saying the more the users across the country get benefit from the services, the more the service provider gets more profit.

Adegbiji said, more than 70 percent of current capacity of 300 racks is already occupied and the rest are already paid for. “By march this years, our current capacity will be exhausted. That is why we have embarked on expansion for another 300 racks. In fact, some companies are already booking for space in the new space.

He admitted that data centre business is capital intensive, therefore called on federal government to support data centre operations in Nigeria. He said there was need for proper regulation of data centre in the country and called on government to declare data centre operation as critical national infrastructure that needs government attention because of the critical role it plays in the economy of any country.

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