September 16, 2025
MTN Group, has said that its in advanced stage in talks with US and European firms to develop data centers to power artificial intelligence (AI) services across the Africa continent.
The Africa largest telecom operator, noted that the move is part of the company’s strategy to fill continent’s massive AI infrastructure gap and unlock new revenue streams.
According MTN CEO Ralph Mupita, who disclosed this in an interview with Bloomberg, MTN will directly fund part of the investment for the AI data center build-out while working with global partners, including co-investors, AI infrastructure firms, and hyperscalers such as Microsoft.
Mupita told Bloomberg that the goal is to construct facilities, sign up tenants needing AI computing capacity, and rent out access to businesses and governments across Africa.
“We are now in the commercial negotiation phase and shortlisting partners who can help us scale. Our goal is to conclude these partnerships within the year.”
MTN said its AI data center unit, known as Genova, will play a key role in its broader plan to monetize infrastructure, open platforms to third parties, and drive new revenue growth.
READ MORE; MTN, Airtel Africa Collaborate To Cut Costs, Expand Network Reach
Potential partners would follow MTN into the 16 African markets where it operates, particularly where demand for AI services is rising.
Mupita noted that MTN is exploring all available options to secure efficient power sources for its planned data centers in markets with fragile energy infrastructure.
MTN Group announced that it had begun deploying AI solutions to optimise network traffic and enhance service delivery in Nigeria, as part of a broader continent-wide strategy to transform its operations using responsible AI technologies, under the Genova strategy.
The Group said AI is now being operationalized at scale across its operations through the MTN Genova transformation programme.
READ MORE; MTN Nigeria Possibilities To Recovering Fully In 2025
MTN said the deployment in Nigeria is part of a series of targeted AI use cases across key domains, including intelligent fuel consumption management for data centres in South Africa, dynamic energy management in Benin, and fibre cut sensing in Côte d’Ivoire.
MTN Nigeria had in July this year launched what it said was West Africa’s largest Tier III data centreand one of the largest in Africa.
The Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre, as it was called, has a capacity of nine megawatts and is equipped with cloud infrastructure that the telco claims rivals offerings from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
