Daily Battles over Lagos Data Centre Domination
Article Title: Ecobank Exits Mozambique and Airtel Builds Largest Data Centre in Nigeria
In the world of telecommunications and banking, two significant developments have taken place recently. Ecobank, a pan-African bank, has decided to exit Mozambique and sell its entire shareholding in its Mozambican business to Malawi's FDH Bank. Simultaneously, Airtel, a major Nigerian telecom company, is planning to build Nigeria's largest hyperscale data centre.
Ecobank's decision to exit Mozambique is not a step back from Africa but a strategic move to pick its battles and keep a wide reach but spend only where it sees real value. The sale of Ecobank's Mozambican business includes assets and four bank branches and will be completed by the end of 2025. The sale to FDH Bank—a significant regional player listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange—was fully financed from FDH’s retained earnings and approved by necessary regulatory authorities.
The impact on Ecobank’s overall business is positioned positively. The move aligns the group with its strategic goal to streamline operations and focus on markets where it can remain competitive and meaningful. By exiting Mozambique, Ecobank can reinforce its capital adequacy and pursue growth in core markets, improving operational efficiency and returns. Ecobank's group CEO emphasized potential future collaboration with FDH to advance cross-border payments in Mozambique via their pan-African digital banking ecosystem, maintaining some regional connectivity despite the exit.
Meanwhile, Airtel is planning to build a data centre in Lagos's Eko Atlantic City. This data centre will deliver an unprecedented 38 MW IT load, dwarfing MTN's recently launched data centre by more than eight times. Airtel's data centre is explicitly designed to support artificial intelligence, with a focus on GPU servers essential for intensive AI workloads.
In the telecom sector, Nigerian telecom companies MTN Nigeria and Airtel lost 1 million internet subscribers in H1 2025, despite reporting record profit margins in H1 2025. Despite the subscriber drop, telecom operators are seeing higher average revenue per user (ARPU). The recent dip in internet subscribers is more of a market fluctuation than a structural threat, and may self-correct as growth rebounds.
These developments highlight the dynamic nature of the African market, with companies continually adapting their strategies to remain competitive and capitalize on opportunities.
References:
- Ecobank sells Mozambique unit to Malawi's FDH Bank
- Ecobank exits Mozambique, sells stake to Malawi's FDH Bank
- Ecobank Mozambique to be sold to FDH Bank
- Ecobank's Mozambique exit is a strategic move
- Ecobank's Growth, Transformation, and Returns strategy
- In the realm of fintech and education-and-self-development, Ecobank's decision to sell its Mozambique unit to Malawi's FDH Bank signifies a strategic shift towards focusing on markets where it can remain competitive, thereby reinforcing capital adequacy and pursuing growth in core markets.
- Giving way to technology and crypto, Airtel's planned construction of Nigeria's largest hyperscale data centre in Lagos's Eko Atlantic City addresses the growing need for efficient data processing and cloud services, particularly in support of artificial intelligence and mobile-based fintech applications.
- As Ecobank and Airtel shape their futures, startups in the sports sector might consider exploring partnerships to offer mobile payment solutions, capitalizing on the increasing reliance on digital services and improving operational efficiency for sports-related transactions.
- In light of Nigeria's telecom sector experiencing a loss of 1 million internet subscribers while reporting record profit margins, it seems that companies are turning towards funding opportunities in areas such as fintech, education-and-self-development, and sports to maintain growth and self-correct any market fluctuations.
- As African markets continually adapt and technology evolves, understanding the intricacies of entrepreneurship, funding sources, and cross-border payments is crucial for any ambitious entrepreneur or student seeking to thrive in this dynamic, interconnected landscape.
