Equinix, the world's largest global data center and colocation provider, has successfully completed the post-acquisition integration of Nigeria's MainOne, following a $320 million acquisition in 2022. The integration, which took nearly two years, combines the assets, resources, and people of both entities, enabling Equinix to realize the efficiencies that motivated the merger.

The integration saw MainOne employees receive new employment contracts, although the pay increase was not as significant as expected. The company will launch three major data center projects, including an interconnection hub in Victoria Island, a 1000+ rack capacity data center in Lekki, and a data center in Port Harcourt.

This expansion is timely, as Nigeria is experiencing growing demand for data centers to utilize the capacity of its eight submarine cables. The country has 14 data centers with a combined capacity of under 70 megawatts. Other operators, including Rack Centre, Medallion, and Open Access Data Centre (OADC), are also building larger data centers.

The acquisition and integration of MainOne establish Equinix as a prominent operator in the Nigerian cable and data center markets. The company's fiber network in Nigeria will be enhanced, with metro fiber already in place in Akwa Ibom and plans to connect the entire South-South region using fiber cables.