Vodacom and MTN AI-ready data centres support enterprise AI growth
By Kris Van der Bijl
WESTERN Cape businesses are changing how they use telecom data centres, with demand moving towards AI-ready cloud environments, high-performance connectivity and cloud interconnection.
In response to questions posed by Cape Business News, MTN has confirmed that AI-enabled data centres are a strategic priority, although it declined to disclose where South African capacity will be built or when it will come online.
A Vodacom spokesperson also told CBN that the company is “seeing a noticeable increase in demand from Western Cape enterprises for AI-ready cloud environments, advanced data analytics, cybersecurity services and hybrid multi-cloud solutions.”
The responses suggest that operators increasingly see the competitive value of a data centre in the network and cloud services surrounding it, alongside the physical facility itself.
AI-ready data centres support changing enterprise workloads
Vodacom’s Cape-based facilities form part of a wider digital infrastructure ecosystem that supports cloud adoption and AI services through connectivity, managed services and multi-cloud capabilities.
The company said demand continues to evolve from traditional colocation and hosting towards high-performance connectivity, cloud interconnects and services that support AI-enabled applications.
They note that this change lies in the types of workloads and services being supported as organisations accelerate digital transformation projects.
Investment in digital infrastructure continues, although the company did not disclose planned capacity additions at its Cape facilities.
Currently, the Vodacom Cape Town data centre is located in the Foreshore.
Vodacom declined to disclose compute procurement volumes or how workloads are divided between its own infrastructure and partner cloud platforms.
MTN confirms direction but leaves deployment questions open
At its capital markets day in June, MTN set a target to lift greenfield data centre capacity from 80MW to 150MW by 2030.
MTN’s Ambition 2030 strategy identifies digital infrastructure as one of the group’s strategic platforms and states that fibre and data centres have been combined because of “the exponential growth in digital workloads … especially in light of the adoption of AI”.
The company also states that it is building “the backbone of Africa’s digital transformation” through “an integrated FibreCo and AI-enabled data centre strategy”.
In its response to Cape Business News, MTN said it is progressing AI-ready digital infrastructure in South Africa and other priority markets to support cloud and digital service providers, enterprise customers, regulated sectors and its own operations.
Nigeria is also named in their data centre strategy.
MTN’s response establishes the intended users of the infrastructure, although it leaves several operational questions unanswered.
MTN said the delivery model is determined by the requirements of each deployment, drawing on its own infrastructure capabilities alongside technology and delivery partnerships.
It did not disclose whether future South African AI capacity will include the Western Cape, when the first deployments are expected to enter service, or the scale of planned investment.
The company said investment decisions are guided by customer demand, commercial viability, technical requirements, partnership opportunities and enabling infrastructure.
It added that planning includes grid connectivity, backup capacity and renewable energy opportunities where appropriate.
Taken together, the responses indicate that enterprise AI is influencing how telecom operators position their data centres. That said, operators have provided limited detail on future capacity expansion, investment timelines and deployment plans.
