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Hyperscalers map out AI clusters and networking at Open Compute Project

Simon Dux
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Hyperscalers map out AI clusters and networking at Open Compute Project

Nvidia and Meta add in modular server and rack kit, establishing new multivendor AI cluster supply chain

The hyperscale data centre operators club, known as open compute project (OCP) has turned its attention to defining how AI clusters will be standardised and announced an expansion of its Open Systems for AI Strategic Initiative, with approved contributions from Nvidia, including the its MGX-based GB200-NVL72 platform and in-progress contributions from Meta. 

The OCP launched this community effort January 2024, and participants are a who’s who of the IT world: Intel, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Nvidia, AMD, ARM, Ampere, Samsung, Seagate, SuperMicro, Dell and Broadcom. The objective for the OCP Community with the Open System for AI initiative is to establish commonalities and develop open standardisations for AI clusters and the data centre facilities that host them, enabling the development of a multivendor supply chain that “rapidly and impactfully” advances market adoption.

In the latest move, Nvidia has contributed MGX based GB200-NVL72 rack and compute and switch tray designs, while Meta is introducing Catalina AI Rack architecture for AI clusters. These contributions by Nvidia and Meta, along with efforts by the OCP Community, including other hyperscale operators, IT vendors and physical data centre infrastructure vendors, will form the basis for developing specifications and blueprints for tackling the shared challenges of deploying AI clusters at scale. 

These challenges include new levels of power density, silicon for specialised computation, advanced liquid-cooling technologies, larger bandwidth and low-latency interconnects and higher-performance and capacity memory and storage.

Ditching bespoke

“We strongly welcome the efforts of the entire OCP Community and the Meta and Nvidia contributions at a time when AI is becoming the dominant use case driving the next wave of data centre build-outs,” said Open Compute Project Foundation CEO George Tchaparian. “It expands the OCP Community’s collaboration to deliver large-scale high-performance computing clusters tuned for AI. The OCP, with its Open Systems for AI Strategic Initiative, will impact the entire market with a multivendor open AI cluster supply chain that has been vetted by hyperscale deployments and optimised by the OCP Community.”

“Nvidia’s contributions to OCP helps ensure high compute density racks and compute trays from multiple vendors are interoperable in power, cooling and mechanical interfaces, without requiring a proprietary cooling rack and tray infrastructure — and that empowers the open hardware ecosystem to accelerate innovation,” said Nvidia chief platform architect Robert Ober. 

Meta’s in-progress contribution includes the Catalina AI Rack architecture, which is specifically configured to deliver a high-density AI system that supports GB200. “As a founding member of the OCP Foundation, we are proud to have played a key role in launching the Open Systems for AI Strategic Initiative, and we remain committed to ensuring OCP projects bring forward the innovations needed to build a more inclusive and sustainable AI ecosystem,” said Meta VP engineering Yee Jiun Song.

“The timing is right, for collaborative innovations to drive efficiencies using less power, water and lower carbon footprint to impact the next generation of AI clusters that will be deployed by the hyperscale data centre operators and also cascade to enterprise deployments,” said IDC GVP and GM, worldwide infrastructure, Ashish Nadkarni. 

Nvidia and Meta at the Summit

The announcement came at the Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit, taking place 15-17 October in San Jose, California. At the Summit, Nvidia showcased a wide range of OCP-related solutions, including AI factories, scalable GPU compute clusters, Arm-based CPUs and DPUs, storage and networking.

It also gave a glimpse of the future with its new Nvidia Grace CPU C1 configuration – a single-socket Grace CPU Arm-based server that is ideal for hyperscale cloud, high-performance edge, telco and more – as well as Nvidia GH200 Grace Hopper and Grace Blackwell Superchips.

At the Summit, Meta unveiled its ambitious vision for open AI hardware, showcasing a new AI platform and advanced networking innovations. This included its Catalina rack, designed to handle the growing demands of AI infrastructure with modularity and flexibility. Powered by Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell Superchip, Catalina supports high-power workloads with up to 140kW capacity, featuring liquid cooling and the latest industry standards.

Meta’s largest AI model, Llama 3.1, was also discussed. The 405-billion-parameter dense transformer model, trained on 16,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, demonstrates Meta’s push to scale AI workloads. Its AI training clusters now run on two 24,000-GPU setups, which is a rapid expansion from earlier deployments. Meta also showed off its ongoing partnership with Microsoft which focuses on further innovations like the Mount Diablo disaggregated power rack, supporting more AI accelerators per unit. 

Future of networking hardware 

Meta also unveiled its next-generation network fabric for AI training clusters at the Summit. The company introduced two new disaggregated network fabrics and an advanced NIC design, both of which aim to address the increasing scalability, efficiency and flexibility demands of AI workloads. Meta’s believes its contributions to OCP could have a far-reaching impact on the AI ecosystem, enabling companies of all sizes to adopt cutting-edge, open-source infrastructure.

At the heart of this is the Disaggregated Scheduled Fabric (DSF), developed to enhance performance and scalability for AI clusters. By decoupling traditional monolithic network systems into flexible, vendor-agnostic components, Meta said DSF provides proactive congestion management and builds non-blocking, large-scale fabrics tailored to the high bandwidth needs of AI workloads. The fabric is powered by the open OCP-SAI standard and Meta’s FBOSS network operating system, which supports Meta’s MTIA accelerators alongside multiple xPU and NIC vendors.

Meta also announced two state-of-the-art 400G/800G fabric switches – the Minipack3, designed with Broadcom’s Tomahawk 5 ASIC, and Cisco’s 8501, featuring the Silicon One G200 ASIC. These switches offer up to 51.2Tbps capacity and backward compatibility with previous 200G and 400G models, along with optimised power efficiency for AI workloads. Their deployment in Meta’s data centres represents a significant step forward in AI-ready infrastructure, supporting upgrades from 400G to 800G fabrics.

By contributing its disaggregated fabric designs and the new FBNIC – Meta’s multi-host foundational NIC – to OCP, the company continues to drive open innovation in AI infrastructure, enabling developers worldwide to create, adapt, and share new solutions.

Through its collaboration with OCP, Meta reckons it is setting the stage for a more flexible, sustainable, and innovative future for AI-driven data centres.

Mobily adds Sparkle to connect Europe, the Middle East and SE Asia

Annie Turner
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0
Mobily adds Sparkle to connect Europe, the Middle East and SE Asia

The two will create ‘a new digital corridor’ linking Italy to Singapore through Mobily’s terrestrial network and the AAE1 cable in Jeddah

Sparkle, Italy’s leading international infrastructure operator, and Mobily, which operates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, are to create a new route to connect Europe to South-East Asia. They have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect, which they say will meet the growing demand for secure, diversified connectivity between the two continents.

Under the MoU, the parties are to leverage Sparkle’s and Mobily’s terrestrial networks and the AAE1 cable in Jeddah to connect Italy to Saudi Arabia then on to Singapore. 

Capacity will be available to network providers, ISPs, enterprises, content and application providers in levels from 10 GB to 100 GB and beyond. Customers will benefit from access to Mobily’s network and Sparkle’s to access their portfolio of services such as Layer-1, Layer-2 and IP. These services provide virtual access to leading Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and Mobily’s services in Saudi Arabia and Sparkle services in Italy and Europe.

“This new diverse route will enhance the resiliency of global network connectivity between East/Middle East to Europe, thereby supporting the growth of Data Centers and content diversification for OTTs and Hyperscalers in the region. We are happy to have this cooperation between Mobily and Sparkle for such an important project”, said Thamer A. Alfadda, SVP Wholesale of Mobily (pictured above, right).

“We are pleased to collaborate with Mobily in the realization of this intercontinental digital corridor, in which Saudi Arabia plays a primary and pivotal role, that will enable better communication between Europe and the Indo-Pacific while accelerating the development of digital services in all the countries crossed”, said Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle (pictured above, left). 

Google takes nuclear option to power AI

Annie Turner
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Google takes nuclear option to power AI

In what is heralded as a world first, the search giant has signed a deal to buy power from a fleet of mini nuclear reactors

Google has signed what is said to be a “world first” deal to buy energy from a fleet of mini nuclear reactors to power datacentres for AI. The Guardian reports that Google has “ordered six or seven small nuclear reactors (SMRs) from Californian firm Kairos Power, with the first due to be completed by 2030 and the remainder by 2035”.

Neither the locations of the plants nor financial details were disclosed beyond Google having agreed to buy a total of 500 megawatts of power from Kairos, founded in 2016. It is building a demonstration reactor in Tennessee which is scheduled for completion in 2027.

Google, which is owned by Alphabet, said nuclear provided “a clean, round-the-clock power source that can help us reliably meet electricity demands” in this blog. The explosive growth of GenAI and public cloud, has massively increased tech companies’ electricity demands.

A growing trend

In September, Microsoft signed a 20-year deal with the dormant nuclear plant Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania which was the site of the US’ worst nuclear accident in 1979. The deal with Microsoft is awaiting approval.

Amazon bought a datacentre powered by nuclear energy in March from Talen Energy.

Michael Terrell, Senior Director for Energy and Climate at Google, said, “The grid needs new electricity sources to support AI technologies that are powering major scientific advances, improving services for businesses and customers, and driving national competitiveness and economic growth.

“This agreement helps accelerate a new technology to meet energy needs cleanly and reliably, and unlock the full potential of AI for everyone.”

Action in the UK

The UK government is soliciting bids from companies to develop their SMR technologies as the administration looks to revive the UK’s nuclear industry. Rolls-Royce SMR is one of the UK companies that is bidding. Last month the Czech government chose it to build a fleet of reactors.

Drahi reportedly in more talks to sell assets in Spain and France

Annie Turner
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Drahi reportedly in more talks to sell assets in Spain and France

The French telecoms tycoon is looking to sell off its Portuguese assets piecemeal while the fate of Altice France, the country’s second biggest operator, appears to be in the balance

According to Jornal Economico, Altice Portugal is in negotiations to sell its 50.01% stake it in Portuguese wholesale fibre access network operator, FastFiber, to Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners. The infrastructure fund already owns the other 49.99%. FastFiber’s network passes 5.7 million premises.

The owner of Altice International, telecoms entrepreneur Patrick Drahi, has been trying to sell Altice Portugal to raise funds and reduce the group’s debts which amount to about $60 billion. Altice International’s debt is relatively modest at €8.5 billion.

No deal so far

Although a number of parties have shown interest – including rival Xavier Niel and most recently Saudi’s stc in a mooted €8 billion sale – Drahi has been unable to secure a deal. He then switched to Plan B in August; selling off parts of the operator in separate deals.

Drahi sold his 24.5% stake in BT to India’s Bharti Airtel for about £3 billion (€3.587 billion) although the amount was not made public. In the same month, he also agreed to sell Teads, its global media platform, to the content recommendation specialist Outbrain. This was in a $1 billion transaction consisting of $725 million cash, $25 million of deferred cash, $105 million in convertible preferred stock and 35 million shares of common stock.

French assets

Drahi has also been looking to offload French assets. In March, Altice Group entered into an exclusive deal to sell Altice Media to the shipping group CMA CGM for cash payment for was what seen as the high price of €1.55 billion. Altice Media owns the popular French 24-hour news channel BFM and radio broadcaster RMC.

Now Bloomberg reports Altice France is believed to be negotiating with creditors to swap an equity stake of up to 15% in return for reducing Altice France’s debt of about €24.4 billion by the same percentage.

Previously creditors proposed a deal that would have seen Drahi losing control of Altice France. It seems the ownership of Altice France (SFR), the second largest operator in the country after Orange, hangs in the balance.

Odido to offer FWA across the Netherlands

Annie Turner
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Odido to offer FWA across the Netherlands

It is starting with 20,000 addresses where there is no fibre infrastructure or where customers only have a single provider for internet access

The Dutch operator Odido is now offering its 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) service, Klik&Klaar Internet, to everyone in the Netherlands 3.5GHz spectrum. Initially Odido will provide FWA coverage to more than 20,000 addresses where either there is no fibre infrastructure or there is only a single provider for fixed internet.

Tisha van Lammeren, CCO at Odido, comments, “At the beginning of September, we successfully tested Klik&Klaar Internet…in the Bergen op Zoom region. Klik&Klaar Internet fits perfectly within our strategy to ensure that everyone can participate and now has even easier access to a reliable and affordable network”.

Odido says Klik&Klaar Internet can be used immediately upon receipt with an installation app that helps the customer to locate the best reception in the home. Coverage can be expanded in the home using Wi-Fi points and in combination with services such as Videoland and Viaplay. The operator says this will be expanded in future with additional services.

Odido is charging €25 per month for Klik&Klaar Internet which can be cancelled at a month’s noticce. If combined with an existing Odido subscription, customers receive a €5 discount per month.

T-Mobile expands broadband with PŚO’s cable network in Poland

Simon Dux
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T-Mobile expands broadband with PŚO’s cable network in Poland

T-Mobile Polska’s access deal with Polski Światłowód Otwarty (PŚO) gives the operator six wholesale networks on which to deliver services

Mobile operator turned full service provider T-Mobile Polska will offer broadband services in new Polish regions including the Silesian metropolitan area, Lower Silesia, Małopolska, and Lublin regions. Following the agreement signed last year with wholesale fibre network operator Polski Światłowód Otwarty (PŚO – Polish Open Fibre), the operator has significantly extended the reach of its fibre-optic services, making them available on all PŚO connections, including those operating on HFC technology.

T-Mobile first signed a cooperation agreement with PŚO last December, which saw the mobile operator gain bitstream access to the wholesaler’s HFC and FTTH networks when and where available. At the time, T-Mobile said the deal gave it access to almost 10 million Polish households. 

PŚO subsequently rolled out bitstream access on its HFC network in May. It solved the conundrum of what to do on the HFC network in the meantime while it builds its FTTH network. With bitstream on HFC, retail providers can manage their own IP addresses meaning they can roll out IPTV and VoIP services with PŚO. In June, T-Mobile announced it would begin offering services on PŚO’s network 

Deeper in neighbourhoods

In the Silesian metropolitan area, almost all residents in the following cities will now have access to T-Mobile’s high-speed internet: Tychy; Siemianowice; Śląskie; and Zawiercie. In Lower Silesia, T-Mobile’s fibre-optic internet has reached, among others, Lubin, and in Małopolska, Kraków will be a key location. While T-Mobile’s fibre-optic internet was already available in selected areas of these locations, it will now cover additional districts and neighbourhoods.

Last month, PŚO extended its fibre footprint to more than 9,000 households in 25 locations. The operator also modernised the HFC network to FTTH in 18,383 more households. The operator plans to cover more than 6 million homes by 2028 – it is currently at 3.8 million. As it is deploying XGS-PON it will be able to offer speeds of up to 5Gbps. The existing PŚO network covers households in 14 provinces and almost 200 municipalities in Poland. 

In August 2023, T-Mobile signed a wholesale network access deal with cable operator Vectra, gaining access to approximately four million households. The operator also has wholesale deals with Fiberhost, Nexera, Orange, and Światłowód Inwestycje. T-Mobile said its fibre-optic internet now reaches 8.3 million households across the country.

Dell’Oro: RAN market to drop 21% between 2021 and 2029

Annie Turner
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Dell’Oro: RAN market to drop 21% between 2021 and 2029

The analyst house forecasts 6G RAN market will be worth $30bn in 2033, with sub-7GHz and cmWave macros dominating the mix

According to a new 6G report by Dell’Oro Group, after 40 50 50% revenue growth in RAN equipment between 2017 and 2021, it is now facing a second year of steep decline. The pace of decline is expected to moderate after this year but the analyst house thinks that “downward pressure is likely to persist until 6G becomes a reality”.

In the meantime, Dell’Oro expects RAN revenues to trend downward until 2029 before 6G RAN revenues to approach $30 billion by 2033. By that point, sub-7 GHz and cmWave macros are expected to dominate the 6G mix.

The research found that in addition to the typical market fluctuations that have shaped the RAN landscape over the past 30 or more years, the hype around 5G and its failure to alter operators’ flat revenues are fuelling increased skepticism among them regarding further substantial investments in new technologies.

“Some skepticism is warranted. After all, operators invested over $2 trillion in wireless capex between 2010 and 2023 to build out 4G and 5G, yet revenues remain flat,” said Stefan Pongratz, Vice President of RAN and Telecom Capex research at Dell’Oro Group.

“Looking ahead, operators will need to optimize their spectrum roadmaps to address various data traffic scenarios. Our base case assumes that mobile data traffic growth will continue to slow, enabling operators to improve their capital intensity ratios, which will in turn put further downward pressure on the RAN market.

“However, additional capacity will eventually be required, and at that point, leveraging larger spectrum bands and the existing macro grid will likely offer the most cost-effective solution,” Pongratz added.

Dell’Oro Group’s 6G Advanced Research Report offers an overview of the RAN market by region and by technology, with tables covering manufacturers’ revenue for 5G NR and 6G by frequency, including Sub-7 GHz, cmWave, and mmWave. The report also covers Cloud RAN, small cells, and Massive MIMO.

Colt links London, Chicago in 800GbE optical and IP trial

Annie Turner
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Colt links London, Chicago in 800GbE optical and IP trial

Nokia and Windstream Wholesale partnered the B2B operator in testing the potential capacity, speed and low latency on this transatlantic route

Colt Technology Services, Windstream Wholesale and Nokia have successfully completed a “world-first” trial of 800 Gigabit Ethernet (800GbE) connecting London to Chicago (pictured). The route that connected two of the world’s biggest financial services hubs was across an 8,500km subsea and terrestrial infrastructure, over the production network.

The trial showcased power-saving networking technologies from the three global tech businesses to test the boundaries of next-generation wavelength, capacity, speed and latency between two of the world’s largest financial trading hubs. 

The field trial involved connecting one of Colt’s five transatlantic subsea cables and part of its terrestrial fibre optic network with Windstream Wholesale’s domestic US low latency, optical fibre Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON) monitoring speed and performance.

Colt and Windstream Wholesale demonstrated the world’s first transoceanic 800GbE end-to-end service transport from router to router over 1Tbps optical transport. The trial ran on Nokia’s sixth-generation Photonic Service Engine (PSE-6s) coherent optics and 7750 Service Router (SR) routing platforms to support internet service speeds and ultra-high wavelength capacity, while maintaining power efficiency. 

The partners say 800GbE technology marks a breakthrough in service bandwidth, doubling capacity to support advanced network applications like AI data centre networking, content delivery networks, and financial data hub connections. After the trial’s success, the organisations are exploring options to bring 800GbE connectivity services to market for global business customers. 

Pushing the boundaries

Buddy Bayer, COO, Colt Technology Services, said, “Pushing the boundaries of technology innovation is a fundamental part of our customer commitment: it means we stay a step ahead of the market, so we’re ready when our customers ask, ‘What’s next for us?’ This trial has seen us build  a powerful industry collaboration to explore the ‘what’s next’.

“It’s tested the limits of infrastructure performance and capability across thousands of miles of land and sea with incredible networking technologies, and it’s demonstrated the power and potential of what can be achieved, without skipping a beat.” 

Federico Guillén, President of Nokia Network Infrastructure, added, “Such an ambitious project – to link two of the world’s most important financial hubs – sets the bar very high for network capacity, speed, security and reliability. This demonstration would simply not have been possible without the commitment of Nokia and our partners to the highest standards of innovation in networking technology. Together, we are redefining the art of the possible for IP and optical networks enabling cross-continental subsea and terrestrial communications.”

“Our latest innovation represents a true game-changer for global connectivity,” said Joe Scattareggia, president, Windstream Wholesale. “By partnering with two extraordinary leaders in the industry, we’re enabling unprecedented bandwidth capabilities that are essential for driving AI-powered applications worldwide for our customers.

“As an optical technology leader, Windstream Wholesale and our partners are establishing 800GbE as the next evolutionary advancement increase for wave services. This collaboration has pushed the boundaries of what’s possible, creating a network solution like no other. Together, we’re not just meeting the demands of the future — we’re shaping it.”

EBRD, IFC agree $435m long-term debt for Niel’s new operator in Ukraine

Annie Turner
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EBRD, IFC agree $435m long-term debt for Niel’s new operator in Ukraine

The country’s telecoms infrastructure has suffered $1.9 billion-worth of damage since Russia’s invasion

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) have each agreed a $217.5 million, long-term debt facility for Xavier Niel’s recently-created converged operator in Ukraine. The European Union and French Government are both guarantors for part of the loan.

The French telecoms magnet expressed his desire to be a connectivity champion in the country in spring. In April, Niel’s investment vehicle, NJJ Holding, acquired the fixed broadband and pay-TV business Datagroup-Volia from its CEO, Mykhaylo Shelemba, who held an almost 4% stake and a fund managed by US private equity company Horizon Capital. It has about 4 million customers.

In September, a consortium led by Niel’s NJJ Holding acquired the mobile operator Lifecell from Turkcell. It is is the third largest mobile operator in Ukraine with 10 million mobile subscribers.

EBRD noted the funds would aid the operator in “enhancing the resilience of the phone network and improving digital connectivity across Ukraine”.

It also said the operator would improve cybersecurity and “introduce more competitive products and services”.

EBRD estimated there had been $1.9 billion-worth of direct damage suffered by Ukraine’s telecoms sector since the start of conflict with Russia in 2022.

IFC’s Managing Director, Makhtar Diop described the financing as “the largest foreign direct investment by a major strategic investor since Russia’s invasion”, adding “it sends a strong message to global investors about the resilience and significant potential of Ukraine’s economy”.

Niel, who owns NJJ Holding and European operator Iliad Group, said the agreements were a “significant milestone”, adding “without their support, the completion of our major investment in Ukraine’s telecoms sector would not have been possible”.

“Our long-term financial partnership with the EBRD and IFC underscores our shared commitment to Ukraine’s economic growth and highlights the country’s promising investment potential

Ethio Telecom will be first company listed on new stock exchange

Simon Dux
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0
Ethio Telecom will be first company listed on new stock exchange

Ethiopia’s fast growing incumbent will list on Ethiopia’s new stock market this week, selling a 10% stake as part of privatisation efforts

State-owned Ethio Telecom is floating a 10% stake to the public on 16 October is part of the government’s broader strategy to increase private participation in state-owned enterprises. A government spokesperson suggested this would be the first step towards the government divesting a further 45% stake in the telecoms provider to investors. A former monopoly with more than 70 million subscribers is an attractive proposition for big telco groups but also comes with risk.

As long ago as 2021, Orange had been stalking the carrier to the point of lodging an expression of interest. However, in November 2023 the telco announced it had withdrawn from the process to purchase an up to 45% stake, stating at the time “the conditions do not allow for the rapid deployment of our strategy and the completion of a project that would create value for the company.”

Regardless, the Ethiopian government’s strategic investment arm Ethiopia Investment Holdings CEO Brook Taye told Reuters he thinks the country is still a “three-operator market, especially when you add the B2B and B2C sector, and broadband services to houses and offices. It’s a huge opportunity.”

He added the government was “still very much interested, and welcome any interest from operators.” The second operator to arrive in the country was Kenya’s Safaricom but the third operator arrival has been a mirage with many false starts. However, Brook said the government was open to relaunching the tendering process for a second private telecoms licence.

Interestingly, while the Ethiopian Securities Market was originally expected to manage the Ethio Telecom sale, the telco has since been granted a broker licence by the Capital Markets Authority of Ethiopia, enabling the company to sell 10% of its stake directly to local investors through its TeleBirr application. 

A bright future

Fitch Solutions company BMI believes Ethiopia to be one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s fastest-growing markets for digital transformation, particularly given its proximity to East Africa’s principal submarine cable hub, Djibouti. The company recently reviewed the telco and believes its modernisation and expansion plans for the 2024/25 financial year were “ambitious”. 

These include accelerating its copper network withdrawal programme and connecting 100,000 fixed-line customers with last-mile fibre (FTTx), expanding the reach of its mobile money service to 55 million subscribers and establishing a hyperscale data centre capable of supporting enterprise-grade artificial intelligence (AI)-powered applications and solutions. 

The plan to migrate 60,000 Addis Ababa and 40,000 regional fixed-line customers to fibre will be supplemented by efforts to increase long-distance transmission routes as well as backhauling channels to support metropolitan and business centre renovation projects being pursued by the government. BMI has forecast that total FTTx connections will reach 433,700 by the end of 2033, representing just 21.6% of the country’s 2 million fixed broadband connections at that time. In the meantime fixed wireless access will become increasingly important, particularly as consumer spending power is low.

Ethio Telecom plans to increase the country’s data centre load capacity from 4.2MW to 7MW and is reportedly working with Shandong Hi-Speed Group to co-finance the construction of a hyperscale data centre in Abbis Ababa. BMI forecasts that cloud solution spending in Ethiopia will rise from $218m in 2023 to $1.1bn by 2030, for a CAGR of 24.1%. This would make Ethiopia the fourth largest cloud market in Sub-Saharan Africa, behind South Africa and Nigeria and close behind Kenya.

Mobile money strength

The fact the telco is using its TeleBirr service to sell shares demonstrates its strength in attracting mobile subscribers. Competitor Safaricom however will make an impact here given its pedigree in East African mobile money. Ethio Telecom plans to increase the number of TeleBirr agents by 28% to 275,000 and to grow its TeleBirr merchant base by 102% to 367,000. The operator is also expanding the app’s features – the ultimate aim is to expand its TeleBirr subscriber base by 16% to 55 million.

BMI created a 10-year forecast for mobile money services. “The national bank of Ethiopia notes that there were 68.7m registered mobile money accounts as of June 2023, up from 43.3m in June 2022 and 15.3m in June 2021. We forecast the number of accounts to reach 88.5m by the end of 2024 and to grow robustly through to 2033, when there will be 118.9m registered accounts (94.5% of the total mobile subscriber base),” it stated. 

Pictured: Ethio Telecom chief executive officer Frehiwot Tamru

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