Dubai, August 27, 2026 – MTN Digital Infrastructure, the infrastructure unit of Africa’s largest telecommunications operator MTN Group, has entered into a strategic partnership with a United Arab Emirates-based data centre investment platform founded by veteran developer and investor Tarek Al Ashram to build artificial intelligence-ready digital infrastructure across the continent.
The initiative will be executed through a newly formed entity, Africa Data Hub Holding Limited. The platform will combine MTN’s extensive pan-African operational footprint with Al Ashram’s data centre investment, development and operational expertise. Bayobab, MTN’s digital connectivity business and an equity stakeholder in the venture, will supply open-access fibre network connectivity and commercial go-to-market support.
The venture plans to deploy approximately 150 megawatts (MW) of phased AI data centre capacity. Rollouts will initially focus on Africa’s two largest digital markets: South Africa and Nigeria.
The move comes amid accelerating demand for enterprise cloud, data hosting and compute capacity. Although Africa represents the world’s fastest-growing and youngest population, it currently accounts for less than 1% of global AI data centre capacity, leaving regional enterprises and governments heavily reliant on overseas facilities.
The facilities will process MTN’s internal operational workloads while offering colocation and hosting services to global cloud providers, large enterprises and government entities seeking localized data residency and sovereignty.
Mazen Mroué, chief executive officer of MTN Group Digital Infrastructure, noted that the collaboration forms a core part of the operator’s digital transformation roadmap, bridging infrastructure expertise, institutional capital and enterprise connectivity.
“It requires the infrastructure platforms that will power the next generation of digital services, businesses and innovation,” Mroué said.
Al Ashram, who co-founded the KKR-backed Middle Eastern platform Gulf Data Hub, is backing the new venture through his private investment vehicle. He noted that Africa’s compute landscape mirrors the early growth trajectory of the Middle Eastern market.
“We see significant potential to bring our experience in developing and operating large-scale data centre platforms to African markets, and Africa Data Hub provides the right platform through which to invest in and help shape that growth,” Al Ashram said.
MTN has already commenced acquiring land plots and securing power agreements in target jurisdictions to support the phased infrastructure buildout.