Data sovereignty begins where data physically resides. Every byte stored in a foreign data center is a byte subject to foreign jurisdiction, foreign access requests, and foreign pricing power. For Angola — a country that has invested heavily in submarine cable infrastructure to control its international connectivity — the next logical step is ensuring that the data centers where traffic terminates, content is cached, and cloud services are hosted are located within national borders, under national control, and operating at standards that attract international customers.
Angola’s data center landscape in 2026 is a market in transition. The facilities that exist are concentrated in Luanda, dominated by two institutional actors (Angola Cables and INFOSI), and operating at capacity levels that barely scratch the surface of projected demand. The gap between current installed capacity and the requirements of a digitally transforming economy represents both a critical infrastructure deficit and a substantial commercial opportunity.
Market Overview
Angola’s data center market can be segmented into four categories:
Carrier-neutral colocation (commercial). AngoNAP Luanda, operated by Angola Cables, is the primary commercial colocation facility. It provides rack space, power, cooling, and interconnection services to ISPs, mobile operators, enterprises, and content delivery networks. Its carrier-neutral status means any operator can colocate without exclusivity restrictions — a critical feature for a competitive market.
Government/sovereign cloud. INFOSI’s National Cloud Data Center at Camama and its backup facility at the ITEL/Rangel site are being built specifically for government workloads. These facilities will host government applications, citizen services databases, and the national cloud platform mandated by presidential decree. They are not commercial colocation facilities in the traditional sense but serve the public sector’s data processing and storage needs.
Operator-specific facilities. Mobile operators (Unitel, Movicel, Africell) and fixed-line operators maintain their own data centers for network operations, service delivery, and customer data management. These are typically not available for third-party colocation but represent significant installed capacity.
Emerging commercial providers. Smaller providers like AFRICLOUD offer VPS hosting, dedicated server, and limited colocation services. These facilities are smaller and less standardized than the institutional providers but serve a market segment that needs affordable, locally hosted services.
Installed Capacity
Total installed data center capacity in Angola is estimated at:
| Facility | Operator | Racks | Floor Space | Tier Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AngoNAP Luanda | Angola Cables | ~100+ | ~2,000 sqm | Tier III (est.) |
| INFOSI National DC (Camama) | INFOSI | 336 | 5,320 sqm | Tier III target |
| INFOSI Backup DC (Rangel) | INFOSI | ~50 (est.) | ~800 sqm (est.) | Under modernization |
| Africell DC | Africell | ~30-50 (est.) | Undisclosed | Operator-grade |
| AFRICLOUD | AFRICLOUD | Small | Undisclosed | Basic |
| Operator DCs (Unitel, Movicel, etc.) | Various | ~200 (est. combined) | Various | Operator-grade |
| Total estimated | ~800-1,000 | ~10,000+ sqm |
By comparison, South Africa’s data center market exceeds 100,000 square meters of commercial colocation space. Nigeria’s market is growing rapidly with multiple international operators (Equinix, Africa Data Centres, Rack Centre) building facilities. Kenya hosts several international-grade data centers supporting East Africa’s technology sector.
Angola’s installed capacity is small relative to the country’s economic size, population, and strategic infrastructure positioning. This gap reflects both the early stage of the market and the structural barriers (power reliability, construction costs, regulatory complexity) that have slowed development.
Demand Drivers
Several factors are driving growing demand for data center capacity in Angola:
Government digitalization. The government’s cloud migration mandate requires all government agencies to migrate systems to the national cloud within 30 days of INFOSI’s National Data Center becoming operational. This creates immediate demand for government-grade hosting capacity.
Submarine cable capacity growth. The arrival of 2Africa and potentially Equiano, combined with growing traffic on WACS and SACS, increases the volume of data flowing through Angola. This data needs to be processed, cached, stored, and distributed — all functions that require data center capacity.
Content localization. As international bandwidth becomes cheaper and more abundant, content delivery networks and cloud providers are incentivized to deploy edge infrastructure in Angola. CDN nodes, cloud access points, and gaming servers located in Angolan data centers improve service quality and reduce transit costs.
Enterprise digital transformation. Angolan enterprises in banking, oil and gas, mining, telecommunications, and retail are increasingly adopting cloud-based applications, ERP systems, and data analytics platforms. These workloads require local data center hosting for latency, data sovereignty, and regulatory compliance reasons.
Financial sector requirements. The Banco Nacional de Angola (central bank) and financial sector regulators are developing data localization requirements for financial services data. Banks and fintech companies will need local hosting for customer data, transaction records, and regulatory reporting systems.
Power Infrastructure Challenge
Data centers are among the most power-intensive facilities in any economy. A single rack can consume 5-15 kW of electricity, with additional power required for cooling, lighting, and building systems. A 336-rack facility like the INFOSI National Data Center could require 3-5 MW of continuous power supply.
Angola’s power grid presents challenges for data center operations:
- Grid reliability: While improving, Luanda’s power grid experiences outages that require backup generation
- Power cost: Electricity pricing affects data center operating economics and, ultimately, the price competitiveness of Angolan hosting services
- Backup power: Diesel generators are standard backup, but fuel supply logistics and environmental considerations create ongoing operational challenges
- Renewable options: Angola’s abundant hydroelectric resources and solar potential offer pathways to greener data center power, but connecting facilities to renewable sources requires grid infrastructure investment
The INFOSI National Data Center addresses power challenges through a combination of grid connections, diesel backup generators, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, and planned solar integration. The 50 Gbps fiber ring connecting the primary and backup sites provides data redundancy independent of power availability at either location.
Cooling Infrastructure
Luanda’s tropical climate (average temperature 25-27 degrees Celsius, high humidity) creates significant cooling requirements for data centers. Cooling typically accounts for 30-40 percent of a data center’s total energy consumption, making it a major operational cost driver.
Cooling strategies employed in Angolan data centers include:
- Precision air conditioning (CRAC/CRAH units): Standard in-row and perimeter cooling systems used in most facilities
- Hot/cold aisle containment: Physical separation of hot exhaust air from cold supply air to improve cooling efficiency
- Free cooling limitations: Unlike temperate climates where outside air can supplement mechanical cooling, Luanda’s year-round warm, humid conditions limit free cooling opportunities
- Modular container design: INFOSI’s container-based approach at Camama uses self-contained cooling systems within each module, simplifying deployment and isolating thermal management
The cooling challenge increases operating costs for Angolan data centers relative to facilities in cooler climates (Europe, northern US, southern Africa highlands). This cost differential is partially offset by the strategic value of local hosting — lower latency and data sovereignty benefits justify a premium over hosting in foreign facilities thousands of kilometers away.
Interconnection and Peering
Data centers are not just buildings with servers. Their value depends on the networks they connect. The quality and density of interconnection — the ability for networks to exchange traffic directly rather than through transit providers — determines a data center’s utility as a digital infrastructure hub.
AngonIX. Angola’s national internet exchange point, AngonIX, operates within or adjacent to AngoNAP Luanda. The IXP enables domestic ISPs, mobile operators, and content providers to exchange traffic locally rather than routing through international transit. Each ISP that joins AngonIX reduces international bandwidth consumption and improves latency for domestic traffic.
Direct submarine cable connections. AngoNAP Luanda’s proximity to submarine cable landing stations provides low-latency connections to WACS, SACS, and 2Africa. This direct connectivity makes AngoNAP the natural location for content delivery nodes, cloud access points, and network peering.
Cross-connects. The number of cross-connects (physical fiber connections between different operators within the same data center) is a key metric of interconnection density. Higher cross-connect counts indicate a more vibrant ecosystem where operators can efficiently exchange traffic, content providers can reach end users through multiple ISPs, and enterprises can access diverse connectivity options.
Competitive Landscape
The Angolan data center market is evolving from a duopoly (Angola Cables for commercial, INFOSI for government) toward a potentially more diverse ecosystem:
Established players:
- Angola Cables (AngoNAP Luanda) — the dominant commercial facility
- INFOSI — the government cloud anchor
Mobile operator facilities:
- Africell, Unitel, and Movicel all maintain operator-grade data centers
- Africell has explored partnership models with Angola Cables for shared infrastructure
Emerging providers:
- AFRICLOUD and other small providers serve the SME and startup market
- Regional and international data center operators are evaluating Angolan market entry
International interest:
- Africa Data Centres (a Cassava Technologies company) has expressed interest in West and Central African expansion
- Equinix, Digital Realty, and other global operators are monitoring the Angolan market
- Chinese infrastructure companies (via BRI financing) have participated in data center construction
The market’s evolution will depend on regulatory conditions, power infrastructure improvement, commercial real estate availability, and the continued growth of submarine cable capacity that makes Angola an attractive location for data hosting.
Future Pipeline
Data center capacity growth in Angola is projected through several development channels:
INFOSI National Cloud expansion. Beyond the initial 336-rack deployment, INFOSI’s modular container design allows rapid capacity expansion at the Camama site. Future phases could add hundreds of additional racks as government demand grows.
AngoNAP expansion. Angola Cables has expansion plans for AngoNAP Luanda to meet growing commercial colocation demand, driven by submarine cable capacity growth and content localization trends.
New entrants. The combination of growing submarine cable capacity, government digitalization demand, and data sovereignty requirements creates a market opportunity that is likely to attract new data center operators — both Angolan and international.
Edge computing. As 5G deployment progresses in Luanda and eventually in secondary cities, edge computing nodes (small, distributed data processing facilities) will be needed to support low-latency applications. These micro data centers represent a new infrastructure category that complements traditional centralized facilities.
This atlas tracks each facility individually, with dedicated pages providing specifications, services, pricing, and strategic assessment. Navigate to any facility page for the full intelligence dossier.