Unveiled during the AfricaCom event in Cape Town, the white paper: “Unleashing the Potential of Carrier-Grade Hybrid Cloud in Sub-Saharan Africa 2025” draws on research conducted across 13 countries and interviews with 25 leading telecom operators. The study assesses vendors on both technology leadership and market performance, identifying Huawei Cloud as the top performer in Sub-Saharan Africa’s rapidly evolving carrier-grade hybrid cloud market.

GlobalData’s analysis underscores how hybrid cloud has become the cornerstone of digital transformation for telecom operators. As mobile data usage grows, fibre networks expand, and cloud-based AI and fintech services take hold, the region’s carriers are looking to hybrid cloud platforms to drive operational efficiency and service innovation.

Strongest market performance

In the report’s Market Performance assessment, Huawei Cloud received the highest overall rating for expanding market presence and differentiation. GlobalData’s evaluation considered three primary metrics: Market Presence, Market Differentiation and Telco Expertise. It concluded that Huawei Cloud had demonstrated a “stronger market push than its competitors”, supported by its extensive portfolio and long-standing relationships with major African operators.

Huawei Cloud’s focus on close collaboration with carriers, combined with localised service delivery and an expanding ecosystem of regional partners, has strengthened its position in the market. The company’s hybrid solutions are designed to meet the regulatory, security and connectivity needs specific to African telecom operators, enabling them to offer cloud-native services while maintaining control of critical network assets.

Leading in technology and partnerships

Huawei Cloud also achieved the highest Technology Leadership score across seven major categories: Strategic Partnership, Performance and Reliability, Full-Stack Infrastructure, Platform and Control, Professional Services, Big Data and Warehouse, and Artificial Intelligence.

According to GlobalData, Huawei Cloud outperformed competitors in Strategic Partnership, Platform and Control, Professional Services, and Big Data & Warehouse, reflecting a coherent and comprehensive capability across its carrier-grade hybrid cloud portfolio. The company’s integrated approach, combining AI, data analytics and distributed cloud computing, is helping telecom operators accelerate innovation while maintaining service reliability at scale.

Huawei Cloud’s extensive footprint in the region and partnerships with national carriers have been central to its success. The company has worked with operators across South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana to build cloud-ready infrastructure and to pilot next-generation network applications, from AI-driven analytics and energy management to intelligent service orchestration.

Accelerating Africa’s digital future

The GlobalData report points to a clear trend: as the telecom industry digitises, hybrid cloud is becoming the foundation for the next phase of Africa’s connectivity and innovation. The combination of cloud computing, AI and big-data analytics is expected to transform how carriers deliver services, from core network operations to enterprise solutions, while enabling new revenue streams across sectors such as finance, logistics and public services.

“Huawei Cloud’s leadership in carrier hybrid cloud demonstrates both technological strength and deep telco expertise,” the report notes. “Its unified full-stack capabilities and regional partnerships have positioned it to support African carriers as they evolve towards intelligent, scalable, and secure digital ecosystems.”

Huawei Cloud said it remains committed to supporting the continent’s cloud evolution. “We are proud to be recognised for our leadership in carrier-grade hybrid cloud,” a company spokesperson said. “As digital transformation accelerates across Africa, we will continue to empower carriers with open, intelligent and secure cloud infrastructure that drives inclusive growth and innovation.”

Outlook

With hybrid cloud adoption accelerating, GlobalData expects African carriers to prioritise infrastructure modernisation and greater integration of AI-powered cloud services over the next five years. This evolution, it says, will require strong collaboration between global technology providers and regional operators to ensure resilient, low-latency, and compliant cloud environments.

Huawei Cloud’s continued investment in cloud innovation, professional services, and local partnerships positions it to play a leading role in this transformation. As the region moves deeper into the digital era, carrier-grade hybrid cloud will remain at the centre of Africa’s connected future, allowing operators to scale services, unlock data value, and connect the continent to new opportunities in the global digital economy.