Last year, global cloud services provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced that it would open its first AWS Middle East region in the Kingdom of Bahrain.  The Bahrain choice was a surprise for most observers of Middle East cloud and hosting markets, who had expected Dubai to get the call. We say the AWS Bahrain case contains some useful lessons for African countries hoping to attract global hyperscale providers, and see some similarities with a few unexpected African locations.

As African mobile network operators (MNOs) continue to grapple with transforming their operating models, one option is getting stronger consideration: selling off the fibre infrastructure assets. Radical, perhaps. But we say there may be a sensible case for it.

Liquid Telecom’s Cape to Cairo MoU, the partnership between Orange and MainOne, and the launch of the SACS cable. On the surface, these developments appear to have little to do one another. Taken together, we say they illustrate three fundamental changes in African wholesale markets: bandwidth gluts don’t matter any more, the African opportunity is about more than Africa, and OTT demand will determine (almost) everything.