South Africa, located at the southern most end of Africa, is a multiethnic country and unitary parliamentary constitutional republic. South Africa has a population of over 54.96 million and 54.96 million and an internet literacy rate of % (28.58 million million internet users).
Data Center & Telecommunications Economy
The total GDP of the South Africa is over US $315 billion and with a contribution of 6% from the digital economy, South Africa’s data center industry is thriving. Besides South Africa’s data centers, the digital economy includes 4.13 million fixed line telephone subscriptions and 85.19 million mobile telephone subscriptions.
Data Center Markets
South Africa contains several data center clusters throughout the country providing plenty of colocation opportunities. The primary colocation data center markets in South Africa are:
There are several submarine cables interconnecting South Africa to Asia and Europe. There are 68 South African data centers, the majority of these colocation facilities are located in and around Cape Town and Johannesburg. Large carrier neutral South African data centers feature rich ecosystems and state of the art equipment, ensuring maximum uptime and connectivity to over 1,476 service providers.
Energy Distribution
Energy is a significant issue for data centers and South Africa has good coverage of the energy sector. South Africa is energized by 5.2% renewable or green sources, with the remaining provided by fossil/nuclear fuels. This gives South African colocation facilities significant opportunities to take advantage of green energy. In addition to green energy, data center consumers enjoy a range of PUE scores between 1.20 and 1.67. The average PUE for South African data centers is 1.34. South African colocation facilities provide over 404.50 MW of power and has a range of rack power options from 1.00 kW to 1.00 kW.
Natural Disasters
South Africa has an above average risk factor of 5.58% according to the World Risk Report. South Africa is experiences a range of different natural disasters. The primary concerns are flooding, earthquakes and wildfires.
Cloudscene South African Facts
- Total number of South African data centers: 68
- Total number of cloud service providers: 1,476
- Total number of network fabrics: 9
- Latest South African data center added: Great Westerford Building, 240 Main Road, Rondebosch
- Latest South African data centers service provider: Digital Realty
- Number of certified colocation facilities in South Africa: 13