American payment card service provider Visa has officially built its first data centre in Africa as part of its $57 million investment over the next three years.
Located in Johannesburg, South Africa, the data centre was set up as a response to the country’s leadership in digital payments across the continent. South Africa now boasts over 60% of contactless in-store transactions.
Speaking at the launch, Michael Berner, Visa’s head of Southern and East Africa, said, “Visa continues to be very committed to the growth of the economy on the continent and building the data centre, which is frankly one of very few that are built outside of our core locations, which are the US, the UK and Singapore, is evidence of this commitment.”
The data centre is also designed to be part of Visa’s global network, dubbed VisaNet, that currently hosts over 100 billion transactions every year across 200+ countries. The new centre is set to boost payment settlement speeds and build stronger reliability not just in South Africa but across the continent.
As it stands, Africa’s digital payments sector is expected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030. This is associated with the continent’s growing internet coverage and financial inclusion.
So, with the new Visa data centre, many can expect an increase in scalability, giving the region’s fintech sector the necessary facilities to excel.
READ: Visa Backs Four African Fintechs in Latest Investment Push
“For us at Visa, this is more than infrastructure, it’s an investment in people, potential, and partnerships,” said Lineshree Moodley, Country Manager for Visa South Africa.
“By enabling communities to participate more fully in the digital economy, we’re helping build a more inclusive and connected future.”
Other than Johannesburg, other cities like Nairobi and Lagos have emerged as important hubs for the ecosystem and could end up attracting other international companies to invest in the continent, like we have seen before with Mastercard.
