15 August 2025
Craig Lowe, Chief Growth Officer, Phase3
Is ‘digital transformation’ an overused cliché, or a genuine descriptor of what’s happening across Africa right now?
While ‘digital transformation’ is a buzzword globally, in Africa it’s a genuine and pressing reality. The continent is building digital infrastructure from scratch, often leapfrogging legacy systems — mobile money replacing banks and Starlink lowering broadband costs are prime examples. Thus, in Africa, the term accurately describes a tectonic shift akin to the Nubian or Western African Plate, signalling profound changes.
What opportunities do you see in underserved markets like the Accra-Lagos route – and how should digital demand be met?
The Accra-Lagos corridor links two key West African economies that suffer from limited capacity, high latency, and unreliable terrestrial connectivity. The collaboration between Phase3, SBIN, and CSquared aims to unlock a digital corridor with significant potential. Opportunities include enabling cross-border fintech transactions, fostering cloud and SaaS adoption by improving latency and bandwidth, enhancing media and content delivery through local caching, and supporting enterprise and e-commerce growth with resilient infrastructure. This demand will be met through establishing local peering points and IXPs, as well as fibre densification in underserved districts beyond urban centres.
How important is data localisation for African countries, and how does this vary across regions and individual countries?
Data localisation is increasingly critical, but approaches differ by country. Nigeria and South Africa are leading with strict data protection laws focused on digital sovereignty. Kenya and Ghana adopt more moderate, incentive-driven policies rather than rigid mandates.
Francophone African countries are aligning with EU-style regulations due to historical ties. Some nations enforce strict residency laws; others permit conditional cross-border data flows. Balancing localisation with openness is vital, and efforts like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aim to harmonize data governance to support security and economic growth.
What impact will the AWS Wavelength infrastructure you’ve recently launched in Dakar have on local users?
AWS Wavelength embeds cloud infrastructure within telecom networks, bringing ultra-low latency to end users. Its launch in Dakar is significant because it enables real-time applications such as gaming, AR/VR, IoT, and telemedicine. It also empowers local developers to build high-performance services without relying on Europe, and encourages innovation among local carriers like Sonatel. Overall, it levels the playing field between West Africa and more developed regions, fostering a new foundation for technological advancement.
Tell us about the ‘Fibre Meets AI’ project – we hear that space meets fibre meets data centre…?
The ‘Fibre Meets AI’ project integrates terrestrial fibre networks with space-based optical communications and AI-driven data management. Laser Light utilizes space-based laser optics to enable ultra-high-throughput, low-latency links where fibre is limited, with Phase3 providing terrestrial fibre backbone in dense corridors. AI optimizes network traffic, bandwidth, and maintenance, creating intelligent, multi-layered connectivity. This hybrid space-ground model enhances content delivery, enterprise data offloading in remote areas, and disaster resilience, positioning Africa for leapfrog connectivity in the AI era.
Is the future of Africa’s digital infrastructure based around micro DCs, edge facilities and local, sovereign content – rather than the hyperscale model making the headlines?
Yes, but it’s a hybrid approach. Power constraints make hyperscale data centres less feasible outside major cities. Edge computing reduces latency and costs, enabling real-time applications locally. Micro data centres support towns and secondary cities with local caching, AI inference, and IoT. Sovereign content policies — like Ghana’s localisation and Nigeria’s focus on local cloud providers — foster resilience. While hyperscalers remain relevant, the primary focus is on local-first, distributed infrastructure that is more agile and tailored to Africa’s diverse landscape and regulatory environment.
Africa’s digital infrastructure story is unique, bottom-up, and fast-evolving. The continent isn’t copying Western models — it’s creating its own blueprint, combining fibre, satellite, AI, edge, and local policy into something unprecedented. The opportunity is not just about connecting people — but co-creating the digital future.
