Which Sovereignty Is Worth Paying For? Africa’s AI Infrastructure Reckoning
By Bora Varliyagci, CEO, Digitalthings On 17 February 2026, the African Union Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding at its […]
Read morePerspectives & Research
Thinking Deeply About Africa’s Digital Infrastructure
Sector perspectives, market analysis, and strategic commentary from the advisory team — grounded in decades of hands-on engagement across 50+ African markets.
Featured Perspective
The Data Centre Deficit: Africa’s Next Infrastructure Inflection Point
Sub-Saharan Africa is approaching a data centre supply crisis. Hyperscaler expansion, rising enterprise cloud adoption, and the growth of mobile-first digital services are driving demand that existing capacity cannot satisfy. Yet investment remains concentrated in three gateway markets — South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya — leaving the continent’s remaining 51 countries chronically underserved. This piece examines the structural dynamics, identifies where investable opportunity is emerging, and considers the regulatory and connectivity prerequisites that will determine which markets move first.
Strategy
Tower Monetisation in Fragmented Markets: Separating the Signal from the Noise
The passive infrastructure carve-out wave has reshaped mobile economics globally. In Africa, where operator balance sheets are under stress and co-location demand is still maturing, the arithmetic looks different. We examine five monetisation models and what each requires to generate risk-adjusted returns for both operators and tower cos.
Investment
Due Diligence in Frontier Markets: What Standard Frameworks Miss
Commercial and technical due diligence frameworks developed for mature markets systematically underweight the risks and opportunities that matter most in frontier digital infrastructure. Drawing on 27+ years of in-country engagement, we outline the adjustments that produce more reliable investment theses.
Policy
Universal Service Funds: Reform or Abolish?
Most African USFs are chronically underspent, poorly governed, and structurally incapable of delivering the connectivity mandates they were designed to fulfil. A frank assessment of what has worked, what has failed, and what a fit-for-purpose successor model might look like across different regulatory environments.
Markets
Fibre Overbuild Risk: Reading the Competitive Signals Before They Become a Problem
Several African metro markets are approaching or have already reached overbuild conditions in residential fibre. Investors who entered on greenfield projections are now navigating take-up rates below business case and intensifying price competition. We identify the leading indicators that presage overbuild before it crystallises in the financials.
From the Advisory Team
“The infrastructure gap in Africa is not a funding problem. It is a structuring and execution problem. Capital is available — what is scarce is the local knowledge needed to deploy it reliably.”
— Bora Varliyagci, Founder & CEO, digitalthings
LATEST INSIGHTS
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I get asked the same question in different costumes. Will LEO satellites eat fibre’s lunch? Will Starlink kill FWA? Will […]
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In 2017, at the FTTx Council, we put a deliberately awkward question to a room full of operators and investors: […]
Read moreThe $1 Trillion Question: AI, Digital Infrastructure, and Sub-Saharan Africa’s Next Investment Supercycle
Every generation of infrastructure has a defining catalyst. For the last one it was the smartphone. For this one it […]
Read moreAfrica’s Data Centre Opportunity Is Becoming an AI and Power Strategy Question
Africa's data centre opportunity is no longer just a cloud or connectivity story. As AI reshapes the market, the intersection of power, data and capital will define which African markets lead the next wave of digital infrastructure.
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Insights are shared with clients and select counterparts. To discuss any of these topics or commission bespoke research for your organisation, contact the team.