Connectivity growth in West Africa – young, mobile and hyper-connected

West Africa is a high-potential market with all the right ingredients for a connectivity boom - big economies, young populations, and more and more connectivity options coming on stream. ITW Africa talked to ST Digital's Jacques Abeng about the potential of the market.

I think the first driver today is demand. And in West Africa, that demand is massive. We have a young population, a mobile population, and a population that is highly connected today. As a result, demand is becoming increasingly apparent and increasingly critical.

This is essentially a dynamic driven by population growth and acceleration. Several forces are now reinforcing this momentum, particularly subsea cables. Very recently, we have seen major projects such as Africa cables that are changing the way connectivity is now distributed across the region.

There is also enterprise demand. Today, companies are realising that they obviously need to digitalise their infrastructure. As a result, the need is becoming more and more pressing when it comes to developing their own infrastructure and the way they want to deliver outcomes that meet international standards.

And then, of course, the third factor is regulatory pressure. Today, governments are increasingly requiring data to be hosted locally, for organisations to keep their data within the region, and so on.

So, for me, today, connectivity is no longer purely a technical issue. That needs to be clearly stated. It has become an issue of digital sovereignty. Because when it comes to everything we associate with digital transformation, at some point or another, we will inevitably need connectivity that is robust and that operates at the same level and to the same standards as in overseas markets.

The short answer is yes - those synergies do exist. That is a fact. But while everyone wants the same thing, progress is still quite fragmented. As I mentioned earlier, initiatives do exist. Over recent years, many national digital transformation strategies have been launched. Several governments have put programmes in place to accelerate or develop digital transformation within their countries.

However, what is still lacking, in my view, is structural coordination. What do I mean by that? There needs to be convergence platforms. There needs to be regulation moving in the same direction and aligned across all territories.

Why? Because in a region like West Africa, which comprises around fifteen countries, if each country has its own way of developing and deploying strategies, any benefits will likely remain confined to individual national markets. Today, for example, you cannot say that West Africa has a regional regulatory framework for digital transformation - and that is a constraint.

Each country has its own initiatives in place, but at a regional, holistic level, there is still no common framework.

What I increasingly see emerging in this ecosystem are public–private partnership models. Governments are realising that, in some cases, private companies are more advanced on these issues than they are, and that these companies can therefore make a meaningful contribution to regulating or accelerating the transformation we are discussing today.

This is where initiatives like ITW Africa are particularly valuable, because they bring together, over three or four days, stakeholders from across the ecosystem.

You have public-sector players and governments, private-sector players and companies - particularly in digital and related fields - as well as regulators, connectivity players, and major data centre operators.

Bringing all of these stakeholders together in one place is extremely valuable. It is no coincidence that an initiative like ITW Africa continues year after year, addressing themes that lie at the heart of the challenges we face today, both across the continent and more specifically within the region. Having all these actors able to discuss, exchange ideas and share perspectives can only serve as a powerful accelerator for the initiatives we are trying to implement.

What is particularly interesting is that the first barrier is not funding. Based on my experience on the ground, the main constraint is trust, and the lack of credible local reference points.

These barriers exist at several levels. The first is energy. You cannot develop stable, high-quality infrastructure on an unreliable power grid. Today, operating a Tier III data centre requires multiple power sources and the ability to guarantee 99.98% availability. You cannot rely solely on local electricity. Alternative energy sources must be deployed to ensure redundancy and resilience.

Once that is addressed, there is the issue of financing. Serious digital transformation requires capital. Building data centres, operating them, and deploying connectivity—as we have seen with the 2Africa or Equiano cables - requires substantial investment.

At this level, appropriate financial instruments are needed: guarantees, blended finance, local financing, and above all, people who believe it is possible and are willing to invest. This is again where trust becomes fundamental.

The third issue is regulatory fragmentation. In Europe, GDPR provides a single regulatory framework. In West Africa, there are fifteen countries with fifteen different regulatory environments. At that point, challenges are no longer technical, but legal.

Finally, there is dependence on foreign providers. As long as it is assumed that you have to go to AWS or Azure to meet international standards, data will continue to be hosted elsewhere.

The role of a company like ST Digital is precisely to demonstrate that it is possible to have local infrastructure that meets international standards, with local support in French or English, and that is just as resilient and effective as hyperscaler platforms.

In summary: energy, financing, regulatory fragmentation, and trust in local operators.

Yes, the outlook is positive. Every year, we see new initiatives emerging, whether in the private sector with players like Raxio, ST Digital, Orange, or with local companies that want to take control of their digital transformation by building their own data centres.

We also see public-sector initiatives, where governments are seeking to repatriate and retain data locally to accelerate digital transformation on the ground.

There are also external players whose support is helping to improve connectivity. For example, with African cables, landing points in Côte d’Ivoire or in the UK are contributing to these improvements.

And connectivity means acceleration. The more stable connectivity becomes, the faster digital transformation can progress.