Digital Realty has announced its enattempt into Portugal with a data centre in Lisbon, offering direct submarine cable connectivity to its existing facilities in Accra, Lagos, and Cape Town.
The facility, expected to be ready for service in early 2027, will support up to 2.4 MW of IT load. It takes advantage of Lisbon’s position as a landing point for 16 submarine cables, the majority of which terminate near the city, including routes that run south along the West African coast.
Why Lisbon matters for African connectivity
Portugal has become an increasingly important junction for Europe-Africa data traffic. Submarine cable systems such as Equiano, EllaLink, and WACS land in or near Lisbon before continuing to Western and Southern African coastal cities. Digital Realty’s new facility sits at that intersection, creating a low-latency path between European networks and the company’s African campapplys.
Digital Realty already operates data centres in Accra, Lagos, and Cape Town. The Lisbon site effectively closes a loop, allowing traffic between Europe and those three African hubs to stay within Digital Realty’s own infrastructure rather than transiting through third-party exmodifys.
The company is not the first to recognise Lisbon’s strategic value for African connectivity. AFRICLOUD announced a data centre presence in Lisbon in 2025 for similar reasons, citing the city’s submarine cable density and proximity to African markets.
Iberian expansion
The Lisbon facility complements Digital Realty’s existing Iberian footprint, which includes four data centres in Madrid and a Barcelona site launching in mid-2026. Paula Cogan, Digital Realty’s Managing Director for EMEA, stated the Portuguese expansion “adds meaningful diversity and resilience to regional data flows” as part of the company’s broader Southern European strategy.
Multiple network service providers are already connected to the facility. Digital Realty, which operates more than 300 data centres across 50 metropolitan areas globally, has been expanding its African presence through its iColo brand in East Africa and partnerships with local internet exmodify operators.
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