MTN Group has formed a new company, Africa Data Hub Holding Limited, in partnership with an undisclosed UAE-backed data centre investment platform, as it accelerates its push into AI infrastructure across the continent.
The announcement was made in MTN’s interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2026. The telecom giant said the partnership would fast-track its data centre ambitions and support growing demand for cloud, enterprise and AI-enabled services.
—South Africa And Nigeria Named Priority Markets—
MTN said Africa Data Hub will combine MTN’s extensive African footprint and infrastructure with international investment and specialist data centre expertise.
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The platform will serve as the vehicle through which future digital infrastructure opportunities are “developed and scaled across key African markets.”
The company has shortlisted South Africa and Nigeria — the continent’s two largest digital markets — as priority countries for the initial rollout.
Nigeria: MTN launched the first phase of its Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre in Lagos in mid-2025. At the time it was the largest data centre in West Africa.
South Africa: MTN already operates several facilities, including a core switching and transmission hub in Centurion, Gauteng, plus nodes in Randburg, Cape Town, and Mtunzini, KwaZulu-Natal. The Mtunzini site connects directly to the 2Africa subsea cable.
“MTN Digital Infrastructure continued to advance its data centre strategy, laying the groundwork for an expanded AI-enabled rollout plan to support accelerating AI, cloud and enterprise demand,” the company said.
—Betting Big On AI Infrastructure—
MTN outlined plans to enter the AI market alongside the release of its 2025 full-year results. The project will be led by its Digital Infrastructure business.
The company said there is “substantial opportunity” to draw value from an AI-enabled data centre network across Africa as governments and businesses digitise rapidly.
Mazen Mroué, CEO of MTN Group’s Digital Infrastructure, said Africa Data Hub would position MTN as the first port of call for organisations seeking AI infrastructure on the continent.
MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita added: “We are hugely excited about Africa’s potential and are well-positioned to leverage our scale, footprint and brand leadership to capture the significant structural growth opportunities identified. We are committed to accelerating our impact and empowering the people, businesses and nation states we serve.”_
■ Investment In AI-Native Network Tech
As part of the broader AI push, MTN Digital Infrastructure also invested in ORAN Development Corporation’s (ODC) Series A funding round. ODC raised R721 million in March.
ODC is a pioneer in AI-native RAN and creator of the US-based Odyssey RAN platform. It is building the
“Distributed Compute Grid” — what MTN calls “the essential AI processing engine for the world’s digital and physical infrastructure.”
The infrastructure is designed to transform cell sites into high-performance compute hubs capable of running autonomous Agentic AI, real-time generative inference, and “Physical AI” applications for national infrastructure.
The investment round was led by Booz Allen, Cisco Investments, Nokia, NVIDIA, AT&T, MTN, and Telecom Italia. MTN said the parties have now moved to “joint implementation planning” to assess priority use cases aligned with MTN’s *Ambition 2030* strategy.
—What’s Next—
With Africa Data Hub now established, MTN is positioning itself to meet what it describes as surging demand for cloud, data-intensive and AI services across Africa.
The company said “significant progress” has been made in developing the platform’s investment, operating and partnership model, with rollout expected to begin in South Africa and Nigeria first.
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