Google has announced plans to construct four new subsea cable connectivity hubs in the north, south, east and west regions of Africa as part of another wave of investment to boost connectivity and AI development across the continent.
In a blog post on Thursday, James Manyika, SVP for Research, Labs, Technology and Society at Google, said the new investment is “the latest addition to our Africa Connect infrastructure program” and aims to create “new digital corridors within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world.”
No details were given on how much Google will invest in the project or the exact locations of the hubs. However, Manyika said that Google has already exceeded its commitment in 2021 to investing more than US$1 billion in Africa by 2026.
The plan includes linking Google’s Equiano subsea cable and the upcoming Umoja system, to the continent this year, which suggests Kenya and South Africa will likely host two of the four hubs.
The Umoja subsea cable – announced last year and slated to be ready for service in 2027 – will connect Australia with Africa via South Africa, with a terrestrial component connecting South Africa to Kenya via Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Both Equiano and Umoja are part of Google’s Africa Connect infrastructure program, which also includes its Google Cloud region in Johannesburg.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV on Thursday, Google’s MD for Africa Alex Okosi said the hubs – which would include infrastructure such as landing stations and data centres – will be completed within the next three years.
Manyika also said the four subsea cable hubs would add to the critical infrastructure needed to help Africans harness the power of AI.
“To date, we've trained 7 million Africans and plan to train an additional 3 million students, young people, and teachers by 2030,” he said. “Google is also bolstering local capacity by providing African universities and research institutions with over US$17 million in funding, curriculum, training, compute and access to advanced AI models over the past four years, with an additional US$9 million planned for the coming year.”
Manyika also said Google will offering a free one-year subscription to its Google AI Pro plan in the coming weeks to college students in Africa, starting with Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
“By providing students with advanced AI tools for research, problem-solving, coding and content creation, we're directly empowering them to address challenges and pursue opportunities specific to the continent, thereby contributing to economic growth and societal progress,” Manyika said.
