Cape Town hosted the 2025 Africa Tech Festival this week.
Kathy Gibson attended to find out what the continent can look forward to in the coming months.
AI key for Africa to unlock youth dividend
By 2030, more young Africans will enter the workplace than the rest of the world combined – and it’s critical that this youth cohort is able to takes its place in the digital economy.
This is the word from John Omo, secretary-general of the African Telecommunications Union, who says we must ensure this massive youth dividend is not a lost opportunity.
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Local language models key for AI inclusivity
The true value of artificial intelligence (AI) in Africa could lie in the ability to develop local language models that allow people across the continent to access services in their mother tongue.
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Africa’s restless youth demand digitalisation
Africa has a very youthful population – the median age is about 19 years – which is tech-savvy and keen to take part in the global digital revolution.
But without connectivity, decent broadband penetration, and fit-for-purpose data centres this is going to remain a pipe dream.
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Cassava doubles down on AI in Africa
Cassava is using the first batch of 12 000 Nvidia GPUs it has secured to build the first of five African AI factories in Cape Town.
This week, the group has also been appointed as Africa’s first preferred Nvidia Cloud Partner (NCP), adding to its impressive portfolio of partnerships with global technology leaders.
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Vodacom partners with Starlink to deliver broadband across Africa
Vodacom has announced an agreement with Starlink to deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband internet to millions of businesses across Africa and to expand rural network coverage.
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Fibre enables the broadband economy
The rollout of fast fibre infrastructure is key for countries to reap the economic rewards promised by broadband.
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The way forward for Africa
Artificial intelligence (AI) is not a luxury for Africa, but a necessity – and the continent must choose wherther to be subservient and follow what AI dictates to us, or to be co-leaders in the development of AI for Africa.”
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What’s needed to develop AI in Africa
While thought leaders explore how to build a digital economy built on broadband and artificial intelligence (AI), we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that millions of people are still unconnected.
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The broadband imperative for Africa
Africa is standing at a critical crossroads as broadband and artificial intelligence (AI) offer an opportunity for economic growth, while presenting significant challenges in recognising this potential.
However, the broadband divide is a global reality and is even more pronounced in Africa. There are millions of unconnected and underserved uses on the continent.
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Openserve debuts SA’s first FTTR
Openserve has launched its fibre to the room (FTTR) offering in partnership with Huawei – the first to bring this service to the South African market.
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Lessons to be learned from China
When it comes to developing an artificial intelligence (AI) economy from scratch, Africa could learn from countries that have successfully achieved their own transformation.
And we don’t have to look much further than China, which has evolved from being a follower in mobile computing just a few years ago to being a leader in AI with more than 60% of global patents in the technology.
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Why cybersecurity matters
As digital transformation rolls out across Africa, cybersecurity is coming to the fore as an issue that affects all governments, organisations, and ciizens.
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How the data centre landscape is changing
Africa’s time to shine on the digital stage is now.
Africa accounts for 18% of the world’s population – with the majority of them being young. At the same time, the continent is becoming more connected with a wealth of submarine and terrestrial cables being rolled out.
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Cell C partners to offer Huawei Cloud
Cell C Business has penned a strategic partnership with Huawei Cloud to offer customers solutions built on the Huawei Cloud.
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Seacom unveils new branding as it plans for Africa’s future
Seacom, which pioneered Africa’s submarine cable boom 16 years ago, is planning a major new undersea network.
Seacom 2.0, due to be completed by 2029, is designed to carry the data traffic that will be generated by Africa’s embrace of digitisation and artificial intelligence (AI).
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Equinix plans $22m data centre in Lagos
Digital infrastructure company Equinix says it will open its next high performance data centre in Lagos – a $22-million investment it says marks the first phase of an ambitious investment plan of around $100-million to transform Africa’s digital landscape over the next two years.
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Openserve to offer Giga Connect
In February 2026, Openserve will launch Giga Connect, providing dedicated network-to-network connectivity for network operators, service providers, financial institutions, public sector organisations, large enterprises, OTT providers, and data centres where premium-quality interconnection is paramount.
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Teraco increases Cape Town’s hyperscale capacity to 50MW
Teraco has successfully completed its CT2 hyperscale data centre expansion in Cape Town, bringing the facility’s total critical IT load to 50 megawatts (MW).
The expanded CT2 facility adds 32MW of new capacity delivered across eight new data halls and built over three levels, bringing the campus’ total supported IT load to 50MW.
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Paratus Group launches Paratus 500
Paratus Group has launched “Paratus 500” as it becomes what it believes to be the first Pan-African telecommunications network services provider to cover 500-million people south of the equator.
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Teraco, NAPAfrica accelerate the continent’s digital transformation
Teraco has introduced a new API for its Africa Cloud Exchange (ACX) enabling partners to automate cloud connectivity and enhance hybrid and multi-cloud performance across Africa.
At the same time, NAPAfrica has reached a major milestone of 6Tbps of traffic and 680 connected networks, reinforcing its role in keeping African Internet traffic local, lowering costs, and improving network performance.
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DPA is first SA data centre certified by European Commission for Energy Efficiency
Digital Parks Africa (DPA) has positioned itself among global leaders in sustainable digital infrastructure by becoming the first data centre in Africa to be certified as a Participant in the European Commission’s Code of Conduct for Energy Efficiency in Data Centres.
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African countries urged to push quality economic growth by seizing the opportunities of AI development
African ministers and ICT leaders have endorsed a continent-wide push to build shared artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, following a ministerial forum co-hosted by South Africa’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) and the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) on the side-lines of AfricaCom in Cape Town.
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Five Scenarios of Innovation Drive the African Mobile Industry for the Next Golden Decade
Speaking at the MBB Summit during AfricaCom 2025, Samuel Chen, Vice President of Huawei’s Wireless Network Business Marketing, unveiled five scenario-based innovations aimed at driving high-quality growth in Africa’s mobile industry.
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Avanti bridging connectivity gaps with Türksat
Avanti Communications is boosting satellite connectivity across southern Africa by securing additional capacity on the Türksat 5B satellite.
The new agreement, building on a partnership established in 2019, strengthens Avanti’s ability to serve underserved regions and enterprise customers, supporting growing demand for high-quality broadband and advancing digital inclusion across the continent.
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