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Microsoft has announced the opening of its first data centres in Africa. The centres – located in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa – will provide general access to Microsoft Azure, the company’s cloud technology.

According to a statement released today, Microsoft said this move will make it the first global cloud technology provider to deliver cloud services from data centres located in Africa. This will help African businesses to securely and reliably move to the cloud, while meeting compliance needs, the American technology giant said.

In May 2017, Microsoft announced plans to launch two data centres in South Africa, with the expectation of delivering Microsoft Cloud, including Microsoft Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics 365 to Africa. Due to an unprecedented low level of infrastructure to support new enterprise-grade cloud data centres in South Africa, however, the launch of the data centres was postponed to 2019.

“Microsoft Azure is now available from our new cloud regions in Cape Town and Johannesburg,” said Yousef Khalidi, Corporate Vice President – Azure Networking, Microsoft. “The combination of Microsoft’s global cloud infrastructure with the new data centres in Africa will create greater economic opportunity for organisations in Africa, accelerate new global investments, and improve access to cloud and internet services.”

According to the 2018 Cloud Africa report by World Wide Worx – a South Africa-based business technology, research and strategy organisation – the use of cloud among medium and large organisations in Africa more than doubled between 2013 and 2018. Due to the benefits of cloud, including efficiency and scalability, more than 90 per cent of the companies surveyed in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria have plans of increasing their spending on cloud computing in 2019. A secure cloud computing offering, however, is critical to maintaining this momentum, as many companies’ CEOs are concerned about cyber threats.

“Microsoft has deep expertise in protecting data and empowering customers around the globe to meet extensive security and privacy requirements, including offering the broadcast set of compliance certifications and attestations in the industry,” Khalidi said.

With a network of over 10,000 local partners and a nearly 30-year history of operating on the continent, the new datacentres are part of Microsoft’s ongoing investment to enable digital transformation across Africa. For instance, in partnership with the African Development Bank, Microsoft is running the “Coding for Employment” programme aimed at creating 25 million jobs and reaching 50 million youths and women across Africa.

“We’re working with partners to accelerate cloud readiness and adoption in Africa, ensuring enterprises can deliver services to market faster, businesses can make more data-driven decisions, and governments can better connect with citizens,” said Ibrahim Youssry, Microsoft’s General Manager in North, West, East, Central Africa, Levant and Pakistan. “As we connect more businesses to Azure, we are seeing heightened innovation in the cloud and startups expanding their services to new markets. The combination of Microsoft’s global cloud infrastructure with the new regions in Africa will now connect businesses with even more opportunity and customers across the globe.”