By João Marques Lima
“We have developed a robust plan for the construction of new edge and hyperscale data centres that will place us on a new level in this market,” says new CEO Pedro Henrique Fragoso.
The new unit, named Tecto Data Centers, is set to receive an initial investment of US billion, the company stated on Thursday.
Tecto Data Centers will oversee the operations of V.tal’s existing and future data centres.
The present portfolio has data centers in operation in Brazil and Colombia with plans to expand to two more cities – Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul, and Santana de Parnaíba, in São Paulo, in the initial phase.
All of Tecto’s data centres are connected to V.tal’s network, which consists of 26,000 km of submarine optical cables connecting Brazil with Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, the United States and Bermuda, which are also connected to the high-capacity network with more than 450,000 km distributed throughout all regions of Brazil.
Pedro Henrique Fragoso, who will lead the new subsidiary as its CEO, said: ”The data centre business is becoming increasingly strategic for V.tal, which has significant knowledge in investments and infrastructure projects. Considering that, we have decided to separate the unit. We have developed a robust plan for the construction of new edge and hyperscale data centres that will place us on a new level in this market.”
He added that approximately US$100 million would be invested in a 13,000 m2, 20MW Fortaleza centre and the site is expected to generate more than 450 jobs between the construction and operational phases.
”Our vision involves a strategy of a neutral, complete, and integrated ecosystem of Tecto data centers and national and international connectivity from V.tal. This convergence becomes a crucial factor as artificial intelligence and cloud workloads rely on a more distributed architecture, aiming for greater proximity to the end user and their applications,” Fragoso added.
V.tal, which is controlled by investment funds from BTG Pactual (BVMF: BPAC11), Singapore’s GIC, and Canada’s CPP Investments, has not ruled out the possibility of an initial public offering (IPO) in the future.
Fragoso told Reuters: ”V.tal is a big company, and a strong candidate for an IPO. At the right time, the company will evaluate going public.”
The company’s rapid expansion aims to meet the growing demands of telecom operators and technology firms providing cloud, content, and streaming services in Brazil and internationally.
V.tal was established following the acquisition of Brazilian telecommunication operator Oi’s fibre optic unit in 2021.
The company has stated that the investments in Tecto will be made using its own capital.
The company recently announced the separation of this unit from its other Neutral Network FTTH (Fiber To The Home) and Wholesale businesses, to provide greater focus and long-term vision, in addition to addressing an initial investment plan of US billion into Tecto.
LINK: https://thetechcapital.com/v-tal-launches-new-data-centre-subsidiary-with-1bn-investment/
