Vodacom Group will look for partners to build AI data centres in Africa, chief executive Shameel Joosub said.
He said partners would share the costs and bring extra expertise, Moneyweb reported.
The Johannesburg-based company has already teamed up with Cassava Technologies and ElSewedy Electric Co on an AI data centre in Egypt. Cassava belongs to billionaire Strive Masiyiwa. Vodacom will also look at other markets such as South Africa and Kenya, Joosub said in an interview.
“Egypt, Kenya, South Africa are our bigger markets,” Joosub said. “It will be a big investment, and that is why we’re bringing on partners.”
He did not comment on how much funding would be needed. The data centres will sit inside joint ventures and will be funded by equity and debt, he said.
“On the one side we will have a stake in the data centre, and on the other side we will probably do the lion’s share of the sales of the data centre to customers,” Joosub said.
Africa houses less than 1% of data centre capacity, according to the report. The continent has the fastest-growing and youngest population in the world.
South Africa currently hosts most of the continent’s computing power. Microsoft Corp, Alibaba Group Holding and Amazon.com offer cloud services in the country.
Vodacom’s rival MTN Group has also partnered with a Middle East-based investment platform founded by Tarek Al Ashram. That partnership will start building AI data centres in Nigeria and South Africa.
Vodacom is majority-owned by the UK’s Vodafone Group Plc. It raised profit by 26% in the six months to 30 September. Its shares rose almost 5% in Johannesburg on Tuesday, which valued the company at $22 billion.
The company declared an interim dividend of R3.55, which is 7.6% higher than a year earlier. Customers increased 12% to a record 250 million.
The results follow Vodacom’s move to take control of Safaricom Plc, Kenya’s largest wireless carrier. Vodacom completed the purchase of an additional 20% stake in June. That lifted its interest in Safaricom to 55%.
That holding is now the subject of a court fight in Kenya. The High Court declared the government’s sale of a 15% holding to Vodacom unconstitutional. It ordered the shares returned to the state.
An appeals court has since allowed Vodacom to keep the shares. The court is fast-tracking an appeal of the ruling.
Source: this article is based on reporting by Moneyweb. Image: Moneyweb. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.