Togo, the West African country, will be the first landing of a new submarine from Google internet cable connected to Europe, in what the tech giant and the Togolese government hailed as a “key digital infrastructure transformation initiative”.
Friday’s announcement comes months after Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, announced a $1 billion investment over five years to support “a range of initiatives from improving connectivity to investing in start-ups” across the African continent.
In a joint statement, the Togolese government and Google said the “Ekeanu” telegram, named after Nigerian-born writer and abolitionist advocate Oluda Equiano, would lead to rapid improvement and abolition of the death penalty. Affordable Internet Access For millions of people in the country and in West Africa. The landing will take place in the Togolese capital, Lomé.
Sina Lawson, Minister of Digital Economy and Digital Transformation of Togo, said this collaboration once again demonstrates the “state’s commitment to improving public and social services for all citizens so that they can benefit from them economically”.
The cable is also expected to land in Nigeria and Namibia before final landing in Cape Town, South Africa.
Google, which first announced the project in 2019, said the cable will have about 20 times more network capacity than the previous cable designed to serve this region. This is the company’s third private international submarine cable and the first in Africa.
A local company founded by CSquared, a global wholesale open-access broadband infrastructure company, and Société d’Infrastructure Numeriques (SIN), a public telecommunications asset firm, will manage and maintain the cable on the ground.
The Togolese government, led by President Faure Gnassingbe, who took power after his father’s death in 2005, has recently turned to digital development.
In 2020, it launched an ambitious plan to build social support and economic development through technology investment. It aims to turn Togo, a country of about eight million people, into a technology hub.
Last May, the World Bank approved an additional $11 million from the International Development Association to “improve connectivity in Togo and develop the country’s digital economy.”
This funding is part of the West Africa Regional Telecommunication Infrastructure Program, which aims to bridge the “connectivity gap” between 16 West African countries and the rest of the world.
said Nitin Gagria, Managing Director of Google Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa, in a press release “We are pleased that Togo is Equiano’s first landing on the African continent, as it aligns with the country’s ongoing efforts to promote digital inclusion in Africa.”
“We look forward to working closely with the Government of Togo and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Transformation as they continue to build their digital infrastructure.”
