Digital Connexion (formerly known as BAM Digital Realty) announced the successful completion of the 3-way joint venture between Brookfield Infrastructure, Reliance Industries and Digital Realty marking a significant step towards developing world class data centers in India.
The transaction, initially announced on July 24, 2023, will result in the three companies becoming equal shareholders, with each owning one-third (33.33%) stake in the joint venture. With this announcement, the joint venture will assume a new identity as Digital Connexion: A Brookfield, Jio and Digital Realty Company succeeding and building on the strong foundation laid by BAM Digital Realty.
This joint venture leverages the distinctive capabilities of each partner: Brookfield Infrastructure's in-depth knowledge of the global and Indian infrastructure industry, Jio’s massive digital and connectivity ecosystem and very strong enterprise relationships, and Digital Realty's industry leading global data center platform and expertise in cloud- and carrier-neutral data centers. The three partners bring complementary expertise and resources – an understanding of local market complexities and customer needs, global innovations, advanced technological solutions, and decades of leadership experience in their respective domains – uniquely positioning Digital Connexion for success.
The joint venture is actively progressing the development of strategically located data centers in Chennai and Mumbai. Its flagship greenfield data center, MAA10, with 20 megawatts (MW) of IT load capacity on a potential 100 MW campus in Chennai, is set to launch in January 2024.
Additionally, the recent acquisition of 2.15 acres of land in Mumbai will expand the JV's footprint with the planned construction of a 40 MW data center. These data centers, situated in key locations, will not only be connected to critical terrestrial infrastructure but also linked to undersea cables, making them ideal connectivity hubs for Indian enterprises and gateways for multinational corporations tapping into the Indian market opportunity.
The joint venture is a vital addition to PlatformDIGITAL®, Digital Realty’s global open data center platform, and will enable customers in India to rapidly scale digital transformation by deploying critical infrastructure with a leading global data center provider at the heart of a growing connected data community. As part of the global platform spanning 300+ data centers in 50+ metros across six continents, Digital Connexion will bring its customers the world-class and seamless connectivity experienced by PlatformDIGITAL clients all over the world.
The Indian data center landscape is expected to witness a multi-fold increase in capacity over the next few years. With India already among the largest global consumers of mobile data, this demand is poised to surge further with increased access to digital services, the ongoing 5G roll-out, and the adoption of data-intensive technologies like IoT and AI.
The joint venture is well-prepared to meet escalating data center and compute capacity requirements driven by these trends. It is strategically positioned to cater to the needs of global and local enterprises, and startups, providing comprehensive solutions for cloud and colocation requirements as they transition to the cloud and off-premises locations.
“The successful conclusion of this transaction signifies a crucial milestone in bolstering India's digital infrastructure. The data centers developed by the joint venture will leverage Brookfield’s in-depth knowledge of the Indian infrastructure market, Digital Realty’s industry-leading energy-efficient data center platform design, and Jio’s massive digital and connectivity ecosystem and very strong enterprise relationships,” said CB Velayuthan, CEO of Digital Connexion.
