Telecom Egypt to construct largest international data center

Egypt’s top telecom operator, Telecom Egypt (TE) has announced the construction of the country’s largest international data center facility in the heart of its Cairo Smart Village.

The data center – the first of its kind to receive the Uptime Institute Tier III certificates in the categories of design, facility building, and operational sustainability – will be connected to all ten Mediterranean and Red sea subsea landing stations, giving it access to more than 60 countries around the globe.

It’s location at the center of West Cairo’s Smart Village, will look to boost the many multinational and local companies, governmental entities, financial authorities, educational institutions, and research & development centers around it.

“Telecom Egypt’s new state-of-the-art data center is characterized by an enhanced colocation service and higher levels of redundancy with the ability to expand to accommodate growing colocation needs,” the operator said in a statement.

According to the company, the data center aims to contribute to the development of sustainability to lower rising energy costs, while being able to house up to 2,000 racks over a 4 Colo Modular Facilities Campus.

The construction of the center aligns with Egypt’s efforts and vision to bolster the country’s ICT infrastructure and digital services, while facilitating regional digital transformation. The new data center is characterized by an enhanced hosting service and higher levels of plurality, with the ability to expand to accommodate growing hosting needs.

“The facility targets enterprises that value premium data center services and consider risk management and lower latency as benchmarks, as it showcases TE’s dedication to transform the country into a global digital hub,” the statement added.

Egypt boasts one of the largest telecom markets within North Africa, as it is supported by a population of about 95 million. Recently, the country’s government has attempted to secure billions of dollars in funding to roll out next-generation networks, develop technology parks and extend broadband availability.

Despite the ravaging effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the worldwide economy, telecoms seems to be steaming ahead with business plans; which is why TE’s data center will be expected to be commissioned in early 2021 with access to all the global submarine cable systems that land in Egypt.

TE owns and operates six commercial data center facilities across Greater Cairo and Alexandria and started to trail 5G and building a 5G network across the country since mid-2019.