Connectivity for Mozambique’s oil and gas sector

September 10, 2024

Emidio Amadebai, Raxio’s general manager in Mozambique and Angola, talks to The Energy Year about bringing data-processing capabilities to Mozambique’s extractive industries and developing infrastructure to further the country’s digitisation goals. Raxio is a pan-African data centre colocation provider with a portfolio of carrier-neutral Tier 3 data centres across the region.

You recently inaugurated the biggest data centre in Mozambique as part of your USD 290-million investment strategy in Africa. What makes Mozambique attractive for the Raxio group?
Firstly, Mozambique’s young and growing population is driving a surge in internet and social media users. This digital boom creates a natural demand for data centre infrastructure, which is the backbone for content delivery networks, hyperscalers and other providers. Previously, Mozambique lacked the capabilities for such services, especially industry-standard Tier 3 data centres and our facility will fill that gap.
Secondly, Mozambique’s coastal location means the country will be housing submarine cables. Recent investments brought these cables to Nacala and Maputo, with Nacala’s landing point being particularly interesting due to its proximity to major LNG projects. Oil and gas enterprises require robust IT and digital infrastructure, and that’s exactly what our data centre provides.
Finally, Mozambique has a lot of potential for enterprise and public sector growth. The government’s prioritisation of digital transformation, along with the central bank’s focus on data localisation, is a powerful combination. Regulators across Africa are emphasising in-country data processing, which necessitates local cloud infrastructure.

How can energy companies benefit from Raxio’s capabilities?
Unlike other facilities, we focus on colocation, providing space, power, security, redundancy and connectivity for our clients to house their IT infrastructure and build their digital businesses. Essentially, we enable the infrastructure that is needed for the digital ecosystem to flourish.

 

How do you incorporate sustainability considerations within the operations of your new data centre?
We’re partnered with EDM, the national electricity company, whose energy mix is approximately 80% renewable power, making our data centre one of the greenest in the region. Additionally, our location within the Beluluane Industrial Park can benefit from a planned 38-MW renewable plant under development by the industrial park together with an energy partner. Raxio would be an early user of this green energy source, ensuring our power mix remains as sustainable as possible.
Beyond our utilisation of renewable energy sources, we have invested heavily in top-of-the-line, highly efficient equipment. While the initial investment was significant, it gives us energy efficiency levels that rival European standards, and in a warmer climate. We’re not just setting standards for efficiency in Mozambique, but across Africa as a whole. As a sector, we consume a lot of energy, which is why we must ensure we procure energy from renewable sources.

Who are you targeting as clients for your new data centre?
We are targeting clients in a range of markets, primarily starting with financial institutions. Driven by regulations and the nature of their services, they require high availability and secure data storage, and our facilities are perfectly suited for their needs. Similarly, ISPs [internet service providers] and MNOs [mobile network operators] utilise our data centres to house equipment for customer service and disaster recovery. Gaining the trust of the public sector generally takes longer, but we’re seeing increasing traction in that segment as well. Rounding out our customer base are traditional enterprises, fintech startups and businesses offering digital services that need secure and reliable colocation infrastructure.

Is Raxio supplying any products or services to the LNG projects in Cabo Delgado?
Raxio is eager to invest in Cabo Delgado and bring improved data facilities to the region. Fast and reliable connectivity greatly facilitates data processing and quick decision making, and local data centres allow businesses to keep their data analysis and operations within the country. Right now, northern Mozambique lacks infrastructure and Raxio has the expertise and resources to deploy data centres within a short timeframe that could be ideally suited for mining and oil and gas companies.
These sectors are huge data consumers, even surpassing banks and public sector entities in some countries. They consume a lot of power because their machinery is just that specific and powerful, and Raxio is the only player in the country with racks that can process up to 21 kW per rack.
Even for companies located in southern Mozambique, processing data locally at Raxio is preferable to relying on Europe or the US. Strong connectivity between Maputo and Nampula, coupled with the new African cables linking Nacala and Maputo, makes a strong case for our services.

What are your key objectives for 2024 and beyond?
We needed to educate the market about the benefits that colocation services bring. Many view data centres as cloud storage or processing facilities, but Raxio provides a service which is a secure, redundant infrastructure with robust connectivity. We bring together local and international carriers and cloud providers, creating a platform for businesses to operate efficiently. This message is particularly important for public sector entities and companies in the mining and oil and gas sectors that may not be familiar with these nuances.
We have invested in developing a team to operate the facility independently and have sent personnel abroad for training to ensure we can meet all our service-level agreements.
Our ultimate goal is to become a strategic partner, particularly for the public sector. The current mentality surrounding data sovereignty can be restrictive. Processing data in-country is the true objective, not physical location, and the shift would allow the acceleration of e-government and other digitisation projects.
Public sector entities, along with any company with innovative ideas, can leverage our platform to deploy their services and tools without needing to build their own infrastructure. We want to be seen as a reliable data centre partner and a strategic enabler for our clients as well as our investors, whose vision is to enable Mozambique to reach its potential.

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