Luanda, April 29, 2026 (Lusa) – Angola’s government has inaugurated a national Data Centre and Cloud infrastructure, a move the telecommunications, information technology and social communication minister described as crucial to digital sovereignty.
Speaking at the opening ceremony in Camama (Luanda) on Wednesday, Mário Oliveira said the project represented a clear assertion of Angola’s digital sovereignty, adding that state and public data remained protected under national jurisdiction.
"We live in an era in which data constitutes one of the most important strategic assets of nations.”
“Its efficient management, secure processing and protection are now crucial to economic competitiveness, government transparency and the safeguarding of national sovereignty," he said.
The government’s Data Centre and Cloud are not merely technological infrastructure, he said, adding that they are part of a broader strategy for administrative modernisation and the development of the digital ecosystem, with a direct impact on the economy and public services.
The project is part of a series of structural investments in the sector, including the launch of the AngoSat-2 satellite in 2022, the expansion of the national fibre-optic network to over 22,000 kilometres, and the commissioning of the 2Africa subsea cable, alongside the WACS (West Africa Cable System) and SACS (South Atlantic Cable System).
“These structural investments have enabled us to consolidate a solid technological foundation, capable of supporting economic growth, promoting social inclusion and accelerating digital transformation in key sectors such as health, education, security, industry and public administration,” he said.
Angola has around 17.5 million mobile and fixed broadband subscribers and a mobile penetration rate of around 75%, he said, adding that these indicators require a strengthening of the country’s data storage and processing capacity.
The new infrastructure is expected to lower operational costs, improve cybersecurity, and bolster investor confidence, driving the entrepreneurial ecosystem and facilitating access to local technological resources.
Oliveira highlighted the impact on cybersecurity, with greater capacity to monitor and respond to threats, in a context of constant cyberattacks, saying that personal data, which he described as a national heritage, will be managed more securely.
Regarding human resources, he acknowledged that training remained a central priority, saying that Angola’s technicians have been undergoing professional training abroad, specifically in the United Arab Emirates and China.
“With this infrastructure, we will be able to move towards developing our own applications,” he said, pointing to the potential for developing artificial intelligence-based solutions tailored to the national context.
The infrastructure was also designed to support the modernisation of the media sector, including digital television and audiovisual content management, strengthening the operational capacity of Televisão Pública de Angola (Public Television of Angola) and Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA).
The government’s data storage and processing infrastructure received an investment of approximately $89 million (about €82 million), including 208 racks (physical structures that house servers and network equipment) and capacity for 13,000 virtual servers (vCPUs).
The infrastructure is intended for the secure storage of government data and the hosting of public information technology (IT) systems, to migrate existing applications and make more than 80 government services available on the new platform.
RCR/MYAL // ADB.
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