African nations continue to put trust in Huawei for data management
- Senegal is the latest country to move its government data to a centre built by the Chinese telecoms giant
- The company, which has been blacklisted by the US and other Western nations, is currently working on 25 projects across Africa
The United States and some Western nations may have banned Chinese technology giant Huawei because of security concerns, but the Chinese telecoms giant is continuing to widen its reach in Africa.
Senegal this week became the latest African nation to announce that it would move its government data and digital platforms to a Chinese-funded data centre built by the telecoms giant.
Senegalese President Macky Sall, who was joined by the Chinese ambassador Xiao Chan for the opening of the centre on Tuesday, said it would help strengthen the country’s digital sovereignty, adding: “It will be necessary to proceed to the rapid migration of data hosted abroad or at national level in structures that do not comply with standards in this area.”
The data centre, built with technical support from Huawei, is funded to the tune of US$150 million by the Export-Import Bank of China (Exim). The data centre will tap into global networks through an undersea cable as well as Senegal’s 6,000-km fibre optic network.
Henry Tugendhat, a senior policy analyst with the China team at the US Institute of Peace, said until African countries can produce this type of technology themselves, there will always be questions about the security risks of buying such sensitive equipment from someone else – especially when they come from countries with big defence budgets.
Tugendhat said the importance of Africa for Huawei has grown in the context of Western sanctions.
