Telecom giant plans more data centers across continent to expand footprint

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd will officially start operating cloud services in South Africa in December, as the Chinese mainland company expands its presence in the global cloud arena.

The move comes as rivals, including Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp, are all looking to tap into the growing demand for cloud services among African countries.

According to Huawei, it is deploying a regional data center in Johannesburg, from which its cloud services can cover neighboring countries and regions. More data centers are also in the pipeline to extend its reach across the continent.

Li Peng, president of Huawei Southern Africa Region, said Huawei has been operating in Africa for 20 years, enriching African people's lives with its information and communication technology solutions and services.

"We have in-depth understanding of the African market and are capable of better meeting customers' current and potential needs. South Africa is one of the most diverse and promising emerging markets globally with tremendous potential. With cloud services, we are aiming to unleash the latent capacity by introducing cloud computing, one of the key engines driving the growth in this era," Li said.

Robert Nkuna, director-general of the National Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services of South Africa, said: "Huawei has been a great technology partner to our country and they have regularly brought cutting-edge technologies to our shores ... We'll engage Huawei to transfer cloud technology skills to SA and the continent."

At AfricaCom 2018, a local telecom industry event, Huawei released its Africa Partnership Program with local channel partners, including Altron, ATOS, BCX, Datacentrix, T-systems and XON.

The move is part of Huawei's broader efforts to take its cloud services onto the global stage. Its services are already available in a string of countries and regions, including Thailand, Russia and Hong Kong.

As for Europe, Huawei is partnering with local telecom carriers such as Telefonica SA and Orange SA, building up their public cloud capability with the help of Huawei technology.

The global public cloud market will surge to $206.2 billion in 2019, rising 17 percent year-on-year from the expected $175.8 billion in 2018, market research company Gartner Inc forecast, adding the African cloud market is gaining momentum.

Gartner research director Kevin Ji, said cloud computing is essentially about economies of scale for service providers. Expanding their coverage lowers average costs and pushes forward global infrastructure delivery.

Amazon Web Services announced earlier this year that it will open its first data center in Africa in the first half of 2020.