Neighbouring Reunion Island is famous for its mountains and lush green landscapes. Roughly 42% of the overseas territory’s surface are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
But the island could soon become known for something else: An international consortium plans to turn it into one of the world’s digital hubs.
The first stage was completed in spring 2021: a super-fast internet cable linking the island to Madagascar, Mauritius and South Africa. The cable is, with a capacity of 24 terabytes, 24 times as fast as Reunion Island’s existing connections to the outside world.
“The internet speed on Reunion Island is the country’s second-fastest and almost as quick as in the capital Paris — it made perfect sense to create a good export internet cable,” Nassir Goulamaly, CEO at Reunion-based group Oceinde, told DW.
Oceinde’s subsidiary Zeop invested €50 million ($57 million) in the new cable called Metiss, together with its business partners Canal+ and SFR from France, Mauritius-based CEB Fibernet and Emtel as well as Madagascar’s Telma.
The consortium intends to spend another €120 million on a second cable linking Reunion Island to India.
What’s more, several huge data centers are to be built on the island. “We are hoping to convince companies to invest up to €1 billion and are already in talks with several interested investors,” Goulamaly explained.
Europe in the middle of the Indian Ocean
The entrepreneur says choosing Reunion Island as their data hub should be a no-brainer for internet companies — even the so-called GAFAs (Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon).
“There are five big data hubs in the world: two in the US, two in Asia and one in the southern French city of Marseille,” he noted.
“But there is a gap in the Indian Ocean — and Reunion Island could perfectly fill that gap,” Goulamaly added.
After all, the island is part of Europe.
“And that means companies can rely on European standards when it comes to data protection, plus they’ll have access to very well-trained staff and excellent health care,” he argued.
Investors are ‘already getting interested’
Reunion Island is meanwhile already on digital companies’ radar, thinks Stephane Colombel, chairman of industry association Digital Reunion. The group represents a sector that includes 500 companies with roughly 5,000 staff.
“Investors are increasingly contacting us to obtain information on Reunion Island,” he told DW while welcoming visitors at NXSE, an annual digital trade fair in the island’s capital Saint-Denis. Since the event’s first edition six years ago, the number of participants has tripled to 900.
Colombel reckons the construction of huge data centers would increase the island’s appeal to investors. “Reunion Island is well connected to the outside world, but it’s always good to back up data locally — that increases data security,” he explained.
Original article at dw.com
