By Nqobile Dludla and Supantha Mukherjee

JOHANNESBURG/STOCKHOLM, May 29 (Reuters) - Amazon

Web Services (AWS) plans to offer cloud computing in

Morocco and Senegal using its AWS Wavelength platform in

partnership with Orange, the firms said on Wednesday.

This will be the first time the services will be available

in any country without physical AWS infrastructure such as data

centres, with Orange set to house the services in its data

centres.

Increased demand for faster computing from banks, telecom

firms and healthcare firms is attracting cloud operators to

Africa, where the cloud market is expected to grow by 15% on a

yearly basis to reach $18 billion in 2028, according to data

platform Statista.

Data consumption is also rising, boosting the need for

secure local data hosting.

The AWS infrastructure allows customers across regulated

industries that require data to remain local, such as the

telecom, finance, public and healthcare sectors, to deploy and

run applications locally.

"Customers of all sizes and all industries in Morocco and

Senegal will be able to access local AWS compute and storage for

data residency, low latency, and security needs for

applications," AWS Vice president Jan Hofmeyr said.

AWS is the largest player in the global $270 billion cloud

infrastructure market but has limited presence in Africa, where

it operates in countries such as South Africa.

Cloud computing depends on a stable telecom network and

about 30 operators in 17 markets across Africa have launched 5G

services. Ten other African countries have announced 5G plans,

according to telecoms association GSMA.