Data Centers in Mombasa

Mombasa – East Africa's Subsea Cable Gateway

Mombasa is the undisputed connectivity gateway for Kenya and the broader East African region. This market is built for content delivery networks, cloud service providers, and international carriers that require the lowest possible latency to the numerous subsea cable systems landing here. Locating in Mombasa provides a direct strategic advantage for accessing and distributing traffic to over 100 million people across multiple countries.

Mombasa: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Mombasa’s value is defined by its direct access to the world's digital economy through a concentration of subsea cable landing points. This makes it a critical hub for traffic exchange and content caching for the entire East African region.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality The market features over 10 providers, including major international and regional carriers, as of September 2025. Carrier-neutral facilities provide the primary interconnection points, offering resilient access to this diverse network ecosystem.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps There are no direct cloud on-ramps within Mombasa's data centers, enabling access to 0 cloud regions locally as of September 2025. Secure, high-speed connectivity to cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure is achieved via private network links to hubs in South Africa or Europe.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) The Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP) has a presence in Mombasa, enabling efficient local traffic peering, which reduces transit costs and improves latency for Kenyan end-users.

Bare Metal Bare metal server options are available through select providers, offering dedicated compute for performance-sensitive workloads. Providers such as Leaseweb can service the region.

Power Analysis

Kenya's power infrastructure is characterized by a high percentage of renewable generation, offering a stable and increasingly green energy profile for data center operations.

Average Cost Of Power Industrial power costs average around $0.12/kWh, as of September 2025. This competitive pricing makes large-scale deployments more economically viable compared to other regional markets.

Power Grid Reliability The national grid is reliable in the main commercial areas of Mombasa. Data centers are supported by redundant power feeds from separate substations and equipped with enterprise-grade UPS systems and backup generators to guarantee uptime.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Mombasa's strategic importance is reinforced by a supportive business environment and its essential role in regional trade and communication.

Proximity To Key Business Districts Data centers in Mombasa are strategically located to serve the Port of Mombasa, a vital logistics hub, and the numerous international telecommunications companies that operate the subsea cable landing stations.

Regional Market Reach From Mombasa, digital services can be efficiently delivered to Kenya's entire population and landlocked neighbors, including Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, and parts of the DRC.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers The government offers VAT exemptions on the importation of certain ICT equipment for data centers. This incentive significantly lowers the initial capital expenditure required to build and scale digital infrastructure.

Natural Disaster Risk

The overall natural disaster risk for the Mombasa area is rated High (6.0/10), as of September 2025. While a crucial connectivity hub, infrastructure must be engineered to mitigate specific environmental threats.

Key risks include:

• Drought (6.7/10): A significant national and regional challenge.
• River Flood (5.1/10): Poses a threat in specific low-lying areas.
• Tsunami (3.2/10): A low-probability but present risk for a coastal city.
• Coastal Flood (2.7/10): A moderate risk related to storm surges and rising sea levels.
• Earthquake (2.8/10): A minor but recorded seismic risk.