Equinix, the American data center and colocation service provider, has successfully completed the integration of MainOne, a Nigerian connectivity services company, following a significant acquisition worth $320 million in 2022. This move is a strategic one for Equinix as it seeks to solidify its presence in the burgeoning Nigerian data center market.
The integration process typically involves the consolidation and reorganization of assets, resources, and personnel from the acquired company. In the case of MainOne, this has resulted in the issuance of new employment contracts for its staff, which notably included salary increases. Despite this, some employees have expressed concerns that the pay raises were not as substantial as they had anticipated, leading to some delays in the acceptance of the new contracts.
TechCabal received information from an insider indicating that the salary adjustments would come into effect in March 2025, coinciding with the end of the company’s financial year. An internal survey reportedly revealed that a segment of the workforce was not satisfied with the revised compensation packages. Additionally, another source pointed out that although the new salaries are reasonable, they are still denominated in the local currency, naira.
The integration process, which spanned nearly two years, was particularly complex due to the need to migrate workloads. This involved transferring data, applications, and IT processes across different environments, a task that can be quite intricate when dealing with the large scale and diverse offerings of both Equinix and MainOne.
MainOne has not yet made a public statement regarding the integration, but it is clear that the process is consistent with patterns observed in other acquisitions throughout Africa, such as those involving 9mobile and Medallion. These cases have highlighted the difficulties in merging corporate cultures, systems, and operational processes.
Post-integration, MainOne will continue to operate under its established brand as “MainOne, Solutions by Equinix,” while its data center division, MDXi, will be rebranded to fall under the Equinix banner. Funke Opeke will remain at the helm as the managing director, supported by the existing leadership team of MDXi. Over time, it is anticipated that Equinix’s global corporate culture will be progressively infused into the company.
Equinix has outlined ambitious plans for the Nigerian market, which include the development of three new data center projects. These projects consist of an interconnection hub on Victoria Island set for completion in 2025, a data center with over 1,000 racks in Lekki planned for 2026, and another facility in Port Harcourt, where construction is already underway. This expansion is further bolstered by the landing of Meta’s 2Africa submarine cable in the region.
The timing of Equinix’s expansion is opportune, as Nigeria experiences a surge in demand for data center services. Local operators such as Rack Centre, Medallion, and Open Access Data Centre (OADC) are also ramping up their operations. Equinix’s entry into the market is poised to intensify competition and significantly boost Nigeria’s capacity to meet its escalating digital infrastructure needs.
