The third edition of Hyperscalers Convergence Africa (HCA) 2026 concluded with a call to action for Africa to accelerate its digital infrastructure buildout. The gathering brought together policymakers, regulators, investors, and industry leaders from across Africa and beyond. They examined how data centres, cloud platforms, fibre networks, power systems, and artificial intelligence can drive Africa's digital transformation. The conference was held under the theme 'Africa's Great Digital Buildout'.
Over five panel sessions and two keynote addresses, participants discussed the challenges and opportunities in Africa's digital infrastructure development. Speakers included senior representatives from the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, Africa Finance Corporation, and the World Bank. Others included technology companies like Microsoft, Equinix, and Rack Centre. The conference identified a need for Africa to move beyond isolated infrastructure projects toward interconnected, cross-border digital systems.
A central conclusion of the conference was that new data centres, subsea cables, and fibre deployments are expanding capacity. However, their impact will remain limited without reliable power, harmonised regulation, affordable connectivity, and stronger enterprise demand. To address these challenges, the conference identified seven priorities for action. These include incentivising Internet service providers to peer across borders and aligning regulatory processes and technical standards.
The conference also highlighted the need for funding early-stage project preparation to ensure viable infrastructure reaches investment readiness. There was a call for mobilising African institutional capital by connecting pension funds, insurers, and sovereign wealth funds with developers. Extending subsea capacity inland through terrestrial fibre was also identified as a key priority. Major projects highlighted included Nigeria's proposed 90,000-kilometre fibre backbone under the BRIDGE initiative.
The development of an Oracle cloud region in Nigeria and cross-border peering incentives were also discussed. HCA will consolidate these findings into the Africa Digital Infrastructure Delivery Agenda 2026. The agenda will cover regulation, capital, power, connectivity, data centres, cloud, AI, cybersecurity, and regional integration. This agenda aims to provide a roadmap for Africa's digital infrastructure development.
HCA 2026 also released an inclusion report recognising 100 women driving innovation across telecommunications, cloud, data centres, policy, finance, and technology. Honourees included leaders from Google, Safaricom, and Microsoft. Others included leaders from national regulatory bodies and Telecom Egypt. The report highlights the importance of women's contributions to Africa's digital transformation.
In his keynote, Executive Director of Africa Hyperscalers, Temitope Osunrinde, emphasised that Africa's digital future depends on the infrastructure choices made today. He called for governments, investors, and industry to work together to deliver reliable power, resilient connectivity, and secure data centres. Osunrinde stressed that multilateral alignment on policy, regulation, and investment is essential to build interconnected infrastructure at the scale Africa requires.
Key points
- Africa must move beyond isolated infrastructure projects toward interconnected, cross-border digital systems.
- The conference identified seven priorities for action to accelerate Africa's digital infrastructure buildout.
- HCA will consolidate findings into the Africa Digital Infrastructure Delivery Agenda 2026.
