French telecoms group Orange has opened a new data center in Casablanca, Morocco.

“Orange Morocco is taking a new step in its commitment to the kingdom’s digital sovereignty with the inauguration of its next-generation Orange Tech Data Center,” the company said last week. “The inauguration of Orange’s largest data center in Africa confirms Orange Morocco’s role as a technological pioneer that supports Morocco in achieving national ambitions, in particular ‘Digital Morocco 2030’ and the New Development Model.”

The 1.5MW facility includes more than 1,000 on-site solar panels. Few further details were provided, but officials from the Nouaceur area of the city were in attendance.

Orange Maroc previously acquired EtixEverywhere Maroc, and with it a 1MW data center in Casablanca, back in early 2021. That facility, located in the Nouaceur area of the city and known as DC2, was built in 2015.

On the company’s website, Orange also lists DC1 in Casablanca (Certified by Uptime and listed as in Nouaceur), DC3 in Rabat, and DC4 in Tangier.

Orange owns around 75 data centers across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Across Africa, the company has facilities in Tunisia, Senegal, Egypt, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, and Burkina Faso.

Earlier this year, the firm said it would look to scale and open up its data centers to more third parties, in the same way its towers now host hardware from other telecoms providers – saying its objective was “not to sell these assets for cash.”

However, a report from last month suggests the firm may be looking to sell a stake in at least some of its French facilities.