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Google internet cable lands in Africa, promising fast connection | Reuters

DAKAR, March 18 (Reuters) — A sub­sea cable owned by Google (GOOGL.O) that promis­es to dou­ble inter­net speeds for mil­lions in Africa arrived in Togo on Fri­day, the com­pa­ny said, the lat­est step in a mul­ti-year project to pro­vide cheap­er access to users across the continent.The Equiano cable, the first of its kind to reach Africa, has wound its way from Por­tu­gal and will dou­ble inter­net speed for Togo’s 8 mil­lion res­i­dents, Google said in a statement.That may be a taste of things to come for oth­er coun­tries set to ben­e­fit in a region where inter­net use is ris­ing fast but where net­works are often crip­pling­ly slow and are a drag on eco­nom­ic development.Register now for FREE unlim­it­ed access to Reuters.comRegisterThe new line will also make land in Nige­ria, Namib­ia and South Africa, with pos­si­ble branch­es offer­ing con­nec­tions to near­by coun­tries. It is expect­ed to start oper­at­ing by the end of the year.Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s least-con­nect­ed region, with around a quar­ter of the pop­u­la­tion still lack­ing mobile broad­band cov­er­age com­pared to 7% glob­al­ly, accord­ing to a 2020 report by GSMA Intelligence.Most coun­tries in West Africa are at the bot­tom of a World Bank glob­al rank­ing on inter­net pen­e­tra­tion. read more Togo will be the first to ben­e­fit. The cable is expect­ed to reduce inter­net prices by 14% by 2025, accord­ing to an Africa Prac­tice and Gen­e­sis Ana­lyt­ics assess­ment com­mis­sioned by Google.Google said the cable will indi­rect­ly cre­ate 37,000 jobs in Togo by 2025 and boost GDP by $193 million.Register now for FREE unlim­it­ed access to Reuters.comRegisterReporting by Sofia Chris­tensen; Edit­ing by Edward McAl­lis­ter­Our Stan­dards: The Thom­son Reuters Trust Principles.