Workonline Communications, a pan-African provider of IP transit, has selected PAIX’s carrier- and cloud-neutral data centre in Accra, Ghana to deploy its first point of presence (POP) in West Africa.
The PAIX Accra (ACC-1) data centre (initially founded as “RackAfrica” in 2011) was upgraded and expanded in 2019 after it was acquired by PAIX Data Centres in 2018. The facility has five submarine cables connected; housing equipment of all the major carriers and ISPs; and connecting to all metro fibre providers.
“This expansion marks an exciting milestone in our African development roadmap,” says Benjamin Deveaux, head of business development at Workonline Communications. “Our expansion provides local ISPs and global CDNs with high quality IP transit services. Our Ghanaian POP will help us extend the reach of our network and support our mission of further developing the Internet ecosystem in Africa.
The Ghanaian market has enjoyed a strong growth in demand for data. This is in part due to the ease of doing business in the country, but also the increased uptake of working from home. Internet access penetration across West Africa has grown from less than 10% in 2010 to close to 40% ten years later with the trend expected to accelerate further.
“PAIX Accra (ACC-1) is the cloud and connectivity hub of Ghana, enabling the digital economy in Ghana and the West African region. Workonline’s market entry in Ghana will help serve our diverse customer community to generate new business opportunities,” says Magloire Hiol, MD of Ghana at PAIX Data Centres.