According to the World Bank, the digital economy could generate more than $5.5 billion for Côte d'Ivoire by 2025, and more than $20 billion by 2050. However, seizing this golden opportunity requires immediate investment in critical infrastructure and initiatives.

Ibrahim Kalil Konaté (photo, center), Ivorian Minister for Digital Transition and Digitization, launched the construction of the next national data center in Abidjan on Thursday, December 14, in the presence of Jessica Davis Ba (photo, left), US Ambassador to Côte d'Ivoire. Certified Tier 3, the 2,200-terabit infrastructure will be built on a 20,000-square-meter site at the headquarters of the Radio Frequency Management Agency (AIGF) in Marcory-Anoumabo. The construction budget is $60 million.

"The National Data Center symbolizes our quest for digital sovereignty. It is designed to stimulate the dematerialization of administrative procedures, thus serving to modernize our public administration. As a catalyst for innovation, this Data Center will not only host the data of national administrative entities but also offer disaster recovery and business continuity solutions, thereby strengthening the resilience and security of our information systems," said the Minister.

The project aligns with the national digital development strategy, which was formally adopted in 2021. This comprehensive strategy, announced by Amadou Coulibaly, the then Minister for the Digital Economy, in June 2022, encompasses not only the construction of vital facilities but also the ambitious deployment of 7,000 kilometers of fiber optics by 2025.

Data centers are key to the ongoing digital transformation. African countries therefore need to invest in these infrastructures especially since the continent hosts only 2% of the global data centers, according to the International Telecommunication Union.

Adoni Conrad Quenum