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Teraco plans major rollout after Barclays Africa funding

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 28 Jan 2015
Teraco has undergone rapid expansion since it was established in 2008, when the South African telecoms market was deregulated.
Teraco has undergone rapid expansion since it was established in 2008, when the South African telecoms market was deregulated.

Teraco Data Environments has increased the size of its medium-term funding facility by R400 million ahead of an extensive data centre infrastructure rollout, set to begin this year.

CFO of the local data centre company, Jan Hnizdo, says the sizeable sum - secured from Barclays Africa - is a "significant milestone" for Teraco and one that will, together with internally generated funds, allow it to continue its large-scale investments in infrastructure.

Teraco builds and operates colocation data centre facilities that enable clients to deploy telecommunications equipment and other key IT infrastructure in a scalable way. The company's infrastructure also allows clients to connect to submarine cable systems, local terrestrial networks, most major African IP backbones and content aggregation hubs.

Local scale

Teraco CEO Lex van Wyk says the company's premium data centre services are in high demand. "The demand is set to continue, underpinned by strong growth in the Internet and increased cloud adoption."

Teraco has seen a rapid expansion in its footprint over the last three years to include three data centres located in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, which combined, comprise 10 MVA of power plant, powering over 6 000m2 of data centre space.

Teraco is also home to NAPAfrica, Africa's largest neutral layer-two Internet exchange point and home to over 180 peers across sub-Saharan Africa.

Hnizdo says the Barclays Africa funding facility will allow for the construction of a large new data centre in Johannesburg to meet continued client demand. The initial phases in the construction of the "JB2" facility are projected to start this year.

Last month it emerged that a company backed by the Permira funds had agreed to acquire 100% of the equity in Teraco in partnership with management.

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