Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has announced its entry into an agreement to invest alongside Brookfield Infrastructure and Digital Realty in their Indian Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) established for developing data centers in India. As part of the agreement, Reliance will hold a 33.33 percent stake in each of the Indian SPVs, becoming an equal partner in the joint venture.
The Birth of ‘Digital Connexion’
Reliance, Brookfield Infrastructure, and Digital Realty have formed a joint venture called ‘Digital Connexion: A Brookfield, Jio, and Digital Realty Company.’ This partnership targets global and local enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and India’s growing startup ecosystem to fulfill their cloud and colocation needs. The JV aims to offer cutting-edge, plug-and-play solutions from the cloud as companies continue to migrate their compute resources off-premise, fostering digital transformation and boosting competitiveness and efficiency.
A Strategic Move by Reliance Jio
Kiran Thomas, CEO of Jio Platforms Limited, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership. He emphasized its significance in serving enterprise and SMB clients with top-notch cloud-based solutions. The collaboration with Brookfield Infrastructure and Digital Realty will enable Reliance Jio to lead the way in providing comprehensive cloud and colocation services. It will empower businesses to embrace digital transformation seamlessly.
Digital Realty, a leading global provider of cloud and carrier-neutral data center solutions, forms a joint venture with Brookfield Infrastructure. The joint venture focuses on developing highly-connected, scalable data centers. It aims to address the critical infrastructure needs of enterprises and digital services companies in India.
Currently, the joint venture is actively developing data centers in Chennai and Mumbai. The first 20-megawatt (MW) greenfield data center (MAA10) on a 100 MW campus in Chennai is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. Additionally, the JV recently acquired 2.15 acres of land in Mumbai to build a 40 MW data center.
India’s Data Center Boom and Growing Mobile Data Consumption
The data centers in Chennai and Mumbai have strategic locations. They will connect to essential terrestrial and undersea cable infrastructure. This transformation will make them hubs for global connectivity for Indian companies and gateways for multinational firms entering India.
Indians are among the largest mobile data consumers worldwide. As a result, data center capacity in India will experience significant growth in the coming years. This growth will create extensive opportunities for innovation and technological advancements within the country.
