Airtel Africa has rescheduled the operational date of its Nxtra data centre in Kenya’s Tatu City from the first quarter of 2027 to July 2027. This was revealed on Monday by newly appointed Ai
Airtel Africa has rescheduled the operational date of its Nxtra data centre in Kenya’s Tatu City from the first quarter of 2027 to July 2027. This was revealed on Monday by newly appointed Airtel Kenya Managing Director Djibril Tobe.
The $150 million facility, whose groundworks began in September 2025, is expected to be East Africa’s largest data centre, with a capacity about 10 times that of any existing regional facility.
During the exploration of the facility’s location and groundworks, Airtel revealed that the data centre is positioned within Tatu City to leverage dedicated grid infrastructure and favourable tax regimes.
The project is designed around a 44-megawatt (MW) power capacity, which will be delivered in two distinct 22MW phases. Also, the investment is designed to reshape the continent’s digital infrastructure.
Groundworks of Airtel’s Nxtra Data Centre in Nairobi, Kenya The construction comes at a time when Airtel’s data centre subsidiary increased its value chain. In April 2026, Airtel confirmed a $1 billion investment in Nxtra, backed by leading global investors such as Alpha Wave Global, The Carlyle Group, and Anchorage Capital Group. The funding round now values Nxtra at $3.1 billion.
While part of the fund was earmarked for scaling Nxtra’s capacity in India from 300MW to 1 gigawatt (GW) and a $15 billion gigawatt-scale AI data centre campus in partnership with Google, Airtel is distributing the other part of the funds to strengthen its African footprint.
Aside from the ongoing East Africa data centre in Kenya, the telecom operator has indicated a couple of expansion plans across its key markets such as Lagos (Nigeria), Kinshasa (DRC), Kampala (Uganda), and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). The 38MW hyperscale data centre in Eko Atlantic, Lagos, is expected to be Nigeria’s biggest upon completion.
An Nxtra data centre prototype Also Read:A comprehensive list of the 28 data centres in Nigeria (operational and under construction).
Airtel’s Nxtra for East Africa’s expansionThe data centre will not only usher in infrastructural expansion for Kenya and the entire East Africa, but also welcome notable global tech leaders to its hosting.
According to Djibril, there are ongoing negotiations with global firms like Apple, Oracle, Google and Microsoft who are already seeking partnerships to host locally on the data centre.
“All the big players like Google, Microsoft, they’re already talking to us. Oracle and Apple are also talking to us to be able to be hosted on that data centre, because that will make their services seamless. They can mirror all the servers within that data centre, and that will enhance the customer experience,” he said on Monday.
Djibril Tobe – Airtel Kenya For tech companies, hosting servers locally in Kenya helps them to reduce latency for their East African consumers. By the way, it ensures seamless streaming, faster cloud computing, and more responsive AI applications.
The broader East African region is experiencing a significant digital revolution. Nxtra provides world-class infrastructure that enhances East Africa’s cloud computing as well as expanding digital infrastructure across Africa.
Airtel’s East Africa Nxtra, with 44 MW capacity, is short of Teraco JB4 Bredell’s 50 MW, which is Africa’s largest standalone data centre. Teraco JB4 Bredell Campus is located in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, South Africa.
