Exploring Africa’s Digital Infrastructure: Insights from the DIF Podcast

Why should we care about African data centres? This is the question that Ville Wacklin, Digital Investment Facility Expert at HAUS poses in his podcast carrying the same name.

As Africa’s digital economy continues to expand, the demand for data storage, reliable connectivity, and secure digital infrastructure is rising rapidly. These foundations are essential for enabling innovation, supporting businesses, and delivering digital services across the continent. The podcast covers sustainability, investment, and security, featuring expert insights from industry leaders and policymakers on Africa’s evolving digital landscape. Together, the discussions shed light on how Africa’s digital ecosystem is developing, and what it will take to support its growth in the years ahead.

Whether you are a investor, decision-maker, developer or just have overall interest in Africa, this podcast is made for you.

Digital infrastructure as a public governance issue

A closer look at the episode themes tells another story. The world has changed considerably since the podcast’s first episode was recorded.

Recent geopolitical crises, cyber threats, and debates surrounding artificial intelligence have further highlighted the strategic importance of digital infrastructures. Questions concerning data ownership, technological dependency, and control over critical communication systems have become central political issues not only for states, but also for ordinary citizens whose daily lives increasingly rely on digital services and platforms.

A small number of global powers dominate much of the world’s digital infrastructure. In recent years, geopolitical tensions and growing dependencies have exposed just how fragile this concentration of power can be. A situation that had previously been somewhat unchallenged suddenly became completely untenable. There is now a shared understanding, that the superpowers with tight grip around the critical infrastructures – such as cloud services, data centres, and global platforms, could make life difficult for the EU as well as the African countries at any given moment. There are signs that protectionism is no longer automatically frowned upon, and has started to become appealing in some respects. Against this backdrop, one of the guests, Aura Salla, Member of the European Parliament and a proponent of digital sovereignty, highlighted the pressing need for public sector actors to take concrete steps towards transitioning to domestic or European service providers. According to her:

“Microsoft is critical infrastructure for us. If they would leave Finland and Sweden for example, our whole public sector would be down in less than one hour.” 

However, this challenge is not unique to European countries – African countries face similar, and in many cases more acute, vulnerabilities. To bridge this gap in vulnerability, the EU and its partner states have joined forces to boost innovation and development.

HAUS’s role in achieving this goal reaches beyond dialogue. The podcast is produced under the Digital Investment Facility (DIF), which forms part of the Data Governance in Africa Initiative. The initiative focuses on strengthening harmonised data policies for personal and non‑personal data, unlocking value through responsible data use and cross‑border data flows in selected sectors, and increasing the number of bankable investments in green and secure data infrastructure supported through the Digital Investment Facility (DIF). Through this work, HAUS contributes to strengthening the enabling environment for sustainable digital transformation in Africa.