Senegal will transfer all government data and digital platforms from foreign servers to a new national data centre with the objective of strengthening its digital sovereignty. The decision risks making the African country’s digital infrastructure fully dependent on Chinese technology.
“I’m instructing the government from henceforth to migrate all state data and platforms to the data centre. We have to rapidly repatriate all national data hosted out of the country,” Senegal’s President Macky Sall said at the launch of the centre on 22 June.
The 46 billion CFA francs (70 million euro) data center was financed with a Chinese loan and built with Huawei supplying equipment and technical support. The first phase of the new facility will be open in around six months’ time and will offer hosting services to enterprises and other public bodies. The data centre will tap into global networks through an undersea cable as well as the country’s own 6,000-km fibre optic network.
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