Huawei Cloud’s rise to the top of GlobalData’s carrier-grade hybrid cloud ranking for Sub‑Saharan Africa marks a significant shift in the region’s cloud landscape, with vendor strengths, market dynamics and geopolitical risks converging to reshape how African telcos build resilient, sovereign and AI‑ready infrastructure.
GlobalData’s white paper, released at AfricaCom on 11 November 2025, evaluated carrier‑grade hybrid cloud suppliers across 13 Sub‑Saharan countries using a mix of market performance and technology leadership metrics. The research, which included interviews with 25 telecom carriers conducted between August and October 2025, placed Huawei Cloud in the leading position for the region, ahead of Microsoft Azure and with Google Cloud and AWS characterised as dominant players in other categories.
The report — widely reported by industry press and reiterated in vendor briefings — also cited a Sub‑Saharan hybrid cloud market value of US$803 million in 2024, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.73% through 2029. Market share by country was highlighted as heavily concentrated: South Africa ~50%, Nigeria ~29%, and Kenya ~11%, according to the material summarising the white paper’s findings.
These topline numbers and rankings reflect a market at the crossroads of telecom modernization, AI adoption and data sovereignty debates. They also raise important questions for operators, regulators and enterprise buyers evaluating hybrid cloud vendors for critical carrier services.
Africa’s telecom operators are investing in hybrid approaches — combining on‑premises, private cloud and public cloud resources — to keep sensitive workloads local while leveraging public clouds and AI toolsets for scale. That makes vendor capabilities in local professional services, hybrid management (single‑pane controls) and data warehousing/AI toolchains especially important.
For network operators, the ability to source end‑to‑end services from a single vendor simplifies accountability for migration, integration and ongoing operations, especially where local engineering capacity is limited.
Important methodological caveats to note:
Operators must weigh whether vendor selection could create obstacles to international roaming, partnerships, or participation in cross‑border projects involving Western governments or companies.
For systems integrators and local cloud service providers, Huawei’s strong market performance suggests continued opportunities to partner with an established telecom supplier. For hyperscalers, the counter‑strategy will likely emphasise performance, global AI ecosystems, and expanded local partner networks to close gaps on telco expertise.
However, buyers must weigh those strengths against tangible risks: geopolitical scrutiny, potential vendor lock‑in, interoperability concerns and localized regulatory complexity. Public summaries of analyst findings provide useful directional insight, but procurement teams should request full technical disclosures, independent security audits and realistic migration guarantees before committing to large-scale, carrier‑critical deployments.
Operators with limited internal cloud engineering capacity will find value in a provider that bundles product and professional services. Yet the safest long‑term strategy is a disciplined, standards‑based hybrid approach: retain sensitive, sovereign workloads on private infrastructure; use public clouds for scale and innovation; and require vendors to demonstrate open controls, data mobility and auditable security.
Building a resilient, AI‑ready carrier cloud in Sub‑Saharan Africa will be less about choosing one vendor and more about assembling a governed ecosystem that balances capability, compliance and contingency. Huawei Cloud’s leadership position is significant — but prudent operators will validate it in pilots, insist on portability and retain diversified options as the market matures.
Source: Technology Magazine Huawei Cloud Tops Carrier Hybrid Cloud Rankings in Africa
Background
GlobalData’s white paper, released at AfricaCom on 11 November 2025, evaluated carrier‑grade hybrid cloud suppliers across 13 Sub‑Saharan countries using a mix of market performance and technology leadership metrics. The research, which included interviews with 25 telecom carriers conducted between August and October 2025, placed Huawei Cloud in the leading position for the region, ahead of Microsoft Azure and with Google Cloud and AWS characterised as dominant players in other categories.The report — widely reported by industry press and reiterated in vendor briefings — also cited a Sub‑Saharan hybrid cloud market value of US$803 million in 2024, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.73% through 2029. Market share by country was highlighted as heavily concentrated: South Africa ~50%, Nigeria ~29%, and Kenya ~11%, according to the material summarising the white paper’s findings.
These topline numbers and rankings reflect a market at the crossroads of telecom modernization, AI adoption and data sovereignty debates. They also raise important questions for operators, regulators and enterprise buyers evaluating hybrid cloud vendors for critical carrier services.
Overview: What GlobalData measured and why it matters
Market performance vs technology leadership
GlobalData split its evaluation into two core dimensions:- Market performance — measured through market presence, market differentiation and telco expertise. This captures sales momentum, local partnerships and carrier relationships that matter for complex telco rollouts.
- Technology leadership — assessed across seven technical and service‑oriented categories: strategic partnership, performance and reliability, full‑stack infrastructure, platform and control, professional services, big data & warehouse, and AI.
Why telco‑grade hybrid matters in Africa
Carrier‑grade hybrid cloud is not the same as the cloud platforms most enterprises use for noncritical workloads. For telcos, carrier‑grade implies stringent service‑level agreements, network integration (including edge compute and NFV/SDN), 99.999% availability standards for core services, and compliance with national data sovereignty and regulatory frameworks.Africa’s telecom operators are investing in hybrid approaches — combining on‑premises, private cloud and public cloud resources — to keep sensitive workloads local while leveraging public clouds and AI toolsets for scale. That makes vendor capabilities in local professional services, hybrid management (single‑pane controls) and data warehousing/AI toolchains especially important.
Huawei Cloud’s strengths: why it scored well
Telco heritage and full‑stack portfolio
Huawei’s long history as a telecom vendor translates into familiarity with carrier network architectures, device ecosystems and operational processes. Huawei Cloud’s hybrid portfolio — notably Huawei Cloud Stack and its ManageOne management platform — is designed to deliver the same services across private and public cloud environments, which resonates with operators seeking consistent, repeatable operations.- Huawei Cloud Stack offers on‑premises cloud infrastructure with disaster‑recovery and high‑availability features tailored for telecom workloads.
- ManageOne provides unified management across physical, virtualised and cloud resources, enabling multi‑level virtual data‑centre (VDC) constructs and role‑based permissions suited to operator hierarchies.
Professional services and local delivery
The GlobalData findings underscore Huawei Cloud’s competitive advantage in professional services. Huawei’s in‑house professional services model — offering consulting, design, implementation and managed operations — appears to have earned high marks versus competitors that primarily rely on partner ecosystems for delivery.For network operators, the ability to source end‑to‑end services from a single vendor simplifies accountability for migration, integration and ongoing operations, especially where local engineering capacity is limited.
Strategic partnerships and ecosystem
Huawei Cloud reportedly scored strongly in strategic partnerships, with a significant share of carrier respondents indicating Huawei as a primary or top‑three provider. These partnerships frequently include systems integrators, local cloud service providers and data‑centre operators, enabling regional deployments and faster time to market.Platform and control, and data capabilities
Huawei’s tools for platform control (including the Huawei ManageOne control plane) and its investments in big data and data warehousing give operators an integrated way to manage data across hybrid footprints. The vendor’s positioning as an enabler for AI workloads (including on‑premises hosting of large models) aligns with the carriers’ interest in monetising AI and analytics.Microsoft, Google and AWS: where the global giants stand
Global hyperscalers remain strong contenders because of their performance credentials, global scale and mature AI ecosystems.- Microsoft Azure led in performance and reliability metrics in the regional assessment, reflecting Azure’s maturity, SLAs and hybrid story with Azure Arc.
- Google Cloud and AWS were positioned as “dominant” players in the market landscape, largely due to their global platform depth, AI toolkits and ecosystem integrations.
- However, the hyperscalers often rely on local partners for carrier integration and may score lower on telco familiarity and in‑house professional services for some regional operator needs.
Market numbers and methodological caveats
The headline market figure — US$803 million for Sub‑Saharan hybrid cloud in 2024 and a 9.73% CAGR to 2029 — paints a picture of steady, medium‑growth demand. Country concentrations reported in the research highlight that much of the market activity is concentrated in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.Important methodological caveats to note:
- The white paper’s granular methodology (including precise definitions, sampling frame for the 25 carriers, and any weighting) may be behind the analyst’s paywall or available only via the white paper itself. The public summaries and press reports capture key findings but do not always provide full access to the source tables.
- Regional market estimates aggregated at the Sub‑Saharan level can obscure dramatic local variations in purchasing power, regulatory stances and the maturity of data‑centre ecosystems.
- Reported percentage scores (for market performance and technology leadership) are normalized metrics from GlobalData’s scoring methodology; readers should treat them as comparative snapshots rather than absolute performance measures.
Strengths that operators should value
- End‑to‑end delivery — Huawei offers a combined product and services stack that can reduce rollout timelines for complex telco cloud projects.
- Hybrid parity — the ability to run the same services across private and public clouds reduces refactoring and operational complexity.
- Telco alignment — deep experience with network functions, edge deployments and carrier operational models supports smoother NFV and edge compute integration.
- Local presence — through regional partnerships, Huawei enables more on‑the‑ground engineering support, which is critical for deployments in countries with constrained technical talent pools.
- AI and data support — integrated data warehousing and AI model hosting on premises align with carriers looking to monetise analytics and AI services while complying with sovereign data rules.
Risks and downside considerations
Geopolitical and regulatory exposure
Huawei’s global position is entangled with geopolitical dynamics. In several Western markets there remain regulatory restrictions or intensified scrutiny on certain Huawei products and services. While these restrictions vary by product and geography, they matter for large cross‑border carriers and public‑sector contracts that must satisfy Western partners or international compliance regimes.Operators must weigh whether vendor selection could create obstacles to international roaming, partnerships, or participation in cross‑border projects involving Western governments or companies.
Perceptions and procurement risk
Even when technical capability is sound, procurement teams and regulators may be wary of perceived security risks. Perception can translate into longer procurement cycles, additional compliance steps, or even disqualification for certain contracts — all of which raise the total cost and time to deploy.Vendor lock‑in and portability
Huawei’s integrated stack provides convenience but also raises the risk of technical lock‑in. Operators should be cautious about proprietary interfaces, data formats and management planes that complicate migration to other public clouds or third‑party platforms.Supply‑chain and component risk
Hardware and specialised components — particularly those tied to specific chipset or accelerator ecosystems — create supply constraints if geopolitical pressures affect vendors’ access to global suppliers. Reliance on vendor‑specific hardware for edge or AI workloads can amplify that exposure.Interoperability with hyperscaler AI stacks
Hyperscalers have made large investments in AI tooling and managed model services. Operators who adopt Huawei’s on‑premises model hosting should validate interoperability with mainstream ML frameworks and confirm that models and tooling are portable where needed.Local regulatory and compliance complexity
African regulatory regimes differ widely. Some countries have strict data residency rules; others do not. Operators that centralise sensitive workloads on any single vendor platform should build compliance roadmaps and ensure contractual guarantees on data handling, encryption and audit access.Practical guidance for operators and enterprise buyers
To translate these market dynamics into sound procurement decisions, operators should follow a pragmatic, multi‑layered approach:- Conduct independent security and architecture assessments for any candidate hybrid cloud. Focus on encryption, key management, and supply‑chain provenance.
- Prioritise interoperability. Require open APIs, documented data formats and proof of cross‑cloud federation (testable in pilots).
- Insist on clear exit and migration terms in contracts, including data extraction tooling, porting guarantees and transition support to alternative providers.
- Evaluate local professional services and delivery capability through reference checks and proof‑of‑concepts that replicate expected network and AI workloads.
- Build hybrid governance: standard operating procedures for where sensitive data must reside, the lifecycle rules for AI models, and monitoring playbooks for cross‑cloud incidents.
- Engage regulators early to pre‑empt compliance questions and to secure approvals where national security or sovereign data concerns are relevant.
- Consider a multi‑vendor strategy for high‑risk workloads: split sensitive, sovereign workloads to private clouds while using multiple public providers for scale and innovation.
- Test AI model portability and training/inference performance on target on‑prem hardware to avoid surprises with accelerator support or framework mismatches.
Commercial and competitive implications
Huawei’s reported leadership in this specific carrier‑grade hybrid cloud ranking signals a competitive edge precisely where telcos need it: in hybrid operational consistency, carrier‑oriented services and local delivery. For Microsoft and the hyperscalers, the report is a reminder that telco adoption is not driven purely by raw cloud scale or global SLAs; it’s driven by how well vendors translate cloud models into telco operating practices and compliance boundaries.For systems integrators and local cloud service providers, Huawei’s strong market performance suggests continued opportunities to partner with an established telecom supplier. For hyperscalers, the counter‑strategy will likely emphasise performance, global AI ecosystems, and expanded local partner networks to close gaps on telco expertise.
The future: what to watch in 2026 and beyond
- Continued growth in mobile data and fixed broadband penetration in leading African markets will intensify demand for edge and hybrid cloud capacity. Look closely at investments in undersea cables, national data centres and metro edge deployments.
- AI adoption by carriers — for customer experience, fraud detection, network optimisation and new revenue streams — will push hybrid requirements further. Vendors that can demonstrate secure, on‑premises AI training and inference with governance controls will gain an advantage.
- Regulatory clarifications around data sovereignty, critical infrastructure and vendor risk assessments in key markets could reshape procurement behavior and create windows of opportunity for vendors with strong local compliance offers.
- Hyperscaler strategies that combine local data‑centre footprints, carrier partnerships and hybrid control planes will continue to test Huawei’s regional lead; vendor competition will intensify around service delivery capability and ecosystem openness.
Final assessment and recommendations
Huawei Cloud’s top ranking in the GlobalData carrier‑grade hybrid cloud assessment for Sub‑Saharan Africa is a credible signal of the vendor’s regional momentum and telco‑oriented product strategy. Its advantages — full‑stack hybrid consistency, in‑house professional services and telco‑grade controls — align with radio‑to‑core operator needs and make it a natural choice for carriers prioritising sovereignty and integrated delivery.However, buyers must weigh those strengths against tangible risks: geopolitical scrutiny, potential vendor lock‑in, interoperability concerns and localized regulatory complexity. Public summaries of analyst findings provide useful directional insight, but procurement teams should request full technical disclosures, independent security audits and realistic migration guarantees before committing to large-scale, carrier‑critical deployments.
Operators with limited internal cloud engineering capacity will find value in a provider that bundles product and professional services. Yet the safest long‑term strategy is a disciplined, standards‑based hybrid approach: retain sensitive, sovereign workloads on private infrastructure; use public clouds for scale and innovation; and require vendors to demonstrate open controls, data mobility and auditable security.
Building a resilient, AI‑ready carrier cloud in Sub‑Saharan Africa will be less about choosing one vendor and more about assembling a governed ecosystem that balances capability, compliance and contingency. Huawei Cloud’s leadership position is significant — but prudent operators will validate it in pilots, insist on portability and retain diversified options as the market matures.
Source: Technology Magazine Huawei Cloud Tops Carrier Hybrid Cloud Rankings in Africa
