Fiber optic submarine cable to connect Africa with Australia
An undersea fiber optic cable is to connect Africa with Australia in the future. The continent has recently been repeatedly affected by massive outages.
There are to be connection points to the fiber optic line for several countries between Australia and Kenya.
(Image: Google Cloud)
A fiber optic submarine cable is to connect Africa directly with Australia in the future. Google Cloud, as the builder, wants to improve internet access in a part of the world that has been one of the worst connected so far.
Google Cloud announced the investment in a blog post on Thursday. "The Umoja cable route, anchored in Kenya, will run through Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, including the Google Cloud region, before crossing the Indian Ocean to Australia," writes the Alphabet-owned company. The terrestrial cable route itself will be built in collaboration with Liquid Intelligent Technologies. It should also enable access points for other countries. Google went on to explain that Kenya has recently faced the challenge of severe outages time and again. The term "Umoja" is the Swahili word for unity.
Connection shows opportunities
"By strengthening our digital backbone, we are not only improving reliability, but also paving the way for greater digital inclusion, innovation and economic opportunity for our people and businesses," the entry quotes the President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E. Dr. William S. Ruto.
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Google also wants to intensify its cooperation with the Kenyan Ministry of Information Communication and Digital Economy. Part of this should include strengthening cyber security, promoting digital education and enabling the safe use of AI.
The US media outlet Bloomberg suspects a more far-reaching strategy: "The continent is emerging as a new arena of global competition for influence in the areas of technology and connectivity." Finally, Microsoft also announced investments of one billion dollars this week to improve its technical infrastructure.
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