Africa’s digital economy is scaling at an unprecedented pace. Teraco and NAPAfrica are building the interconnected backbone that makes it all possible. From fast and reliable content delivery and access to global cloud on-ramps to colocation facilities, we explore how the continent’s largest neutral data centre ecosystem is propelling Africa into its next growth phase.
Record-breaking 5Tbps and counting
NAPAfrica recently surpassed five terabits per second of peak traffic, a milestone that solidifies South Africa’s role as the continent’s primary digital connection point. By keeping African traffic on African soil, the exchange slashes latency, trims transit costs, and unlocks richer user experiences – from binge-worthy streaming to mission-critical enterprise workloads.
NAPAfrica currently has 2,244 physically connected ports and a total connected capacity of 41.5Tbps. This is in addition to offering direct access to more than 656 unique networks (ASNs) spanning 50 countries and becoming the first African Internet Exchange Point (IXP) to introduce 400Gbps interconnects.
Furthermore, NAPAfrica is 100% neutral; members pay zero port, cross-connect, or membership fees – maximising value while accelerating regional internet maturity.
Nexus of interconnection
With more than 27,500 physical cross-connects, Teraco is Africa’s most interconnected data centre hub and South Africa’s only truly neutral colocation provider, operating eight data centres across the country, including five in Johannesburg. Teraco recently completed significant expansions at several facilities to enhance its infrastructure and meet growing demand from clients.
Johannesburg facilities:
• Isando Campus (JB1/JB3/JB5): This hyper-connected campus boasts a total critical IT load of 70MW and 32,000m² of white space. It serves as a central hub for interconnection and colocation services.
• Bredell Campus (JB2/JB4): Located 10km from Isando, the Bredell facility offers a total critical IT load of 64MW and 26,300m² of white space. It provides access to multiple fibre operators between the two campuses, enhancing connectivity options for clients.
Cape Town facilities:
• CT1 (Rondebosch): Situated in the commercial heart of Rondebosch, this facility offers 2,500m² of white space and 3MW of critical IT load. It serves as a carrier-dense interconnection facility and hosts the NAPAfrica Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in Cape Town.
• CT2 (Brackenfell): Located 35km from CT1, CT2 is undergoing a 30MW expansion, scheduled for completion in early 2025, which will support a total IT load of 50MW and comprise 16,000m² of white space. The facility is connected to CT1 via Teraco-owned fibre, facilitating seamless interconnection between the two sites.
Durban facility:
• DB1 (Riverhorse Valley): Teraco has recently completed an expansion at its Durban facility, doubling its existing capacity to 2MW. The 1,600m² of white space facility is strategically located on Durban’s north coast, offering secure colocation and interconnection services.
These facilities underscore Teraco’s commitment to supporting digital transformation by providing scalable, secure, and interconnected infrastructure solutions to enterprises and cloud providers across the region.
This underpins a resilient, future-ready colocation fabric that stretches from the high-density metros of Gauteng to the coastal gateways of the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Magnet for global content and cloud
By hosting cache servers and cloud on-ramps and content edge nodes inside Teraco – think Akamai, AWS, Cloudflare, Fortinet, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Mimecast, Netflix Open Connect, Tencent, and more – NAPAfrica delivers.
• Ultra-low latency for streaming, gaming, and SaaS
• Reduced international bandwidth costs for ISPs & enterprises
• Local data sovereignty and compliance advantages
• A compelling value proposition for new peers to join the exchange
Subsea cables: Africa’s digital arteries
Subseacable systems such as 2Africa, Equiano, WACS, EASSy, ACE, Seacom, METISS, and SAT-3/SAFE have directly linked their South African costal landing stations to Teraco. This global reach, combined with NAPAfrica’s local fabric, enables networks from Southern, East, and West Africa to access international content without detouring through Europe.
Why it matters
1. Economic growth – Faster, cheaper connectivity attracts foreign direct investment (FDI) from tech giants and stimulates local innovation.
2. Digital inclusivity – Free peering lowers barriers for emerging African ISPs, levelling the digital playing field.
3. Future-proof bandwidth – 400Gbps ports and multi-10Tbps fabric headroom meet tomorrow’s AI and Extended Reality (XR) demands.
4. Sustainability – Keeping traffic local reduces carbon-intensive international backhaul and supports green-energy initiatives at Teraco sites.
Looking ahead
As mobile and broadband adoption soars – fuelled by cloud, AI, streaming, and gaming – Teraco and NAPAfrica are doubling down on capacity, reach, and neutrality. Expect continued facility expansions, more regional cache nodes to reduce last-mile distance, and new 400Gbps participants, and ever-higher peak traffic records.
The world connects to Africa at Teraco, and Africa connects to the world through NAPAfrica. If your organisation is ready to ride the next wave of digital transformation, there has never been a better time to get on board.
If you’re interested in joining the exchange or visiting one of our facilities, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Teraco team to discover how seamless, scalable interconnection can drive your growth across Africa and beyond.
