Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, has announced an investment of $1 billion in Africa over the next five years.
Speaking at the first-ever Google for Africa virtual summit
on Wednesday, Pichai said the investment was to support Africa’s digital
transformation.
“We’ve made huge strides together over the past decade — but
there’s more work to do to make the internet accessible, affordable and useful
for every African,” Pichai said.
“Today I’m excited to reaffirm our commitment to the continent through an investment of $1 billion over five years to support Africa’s digital transformation to cover a range of initiatives from improved connectivity to investment in startups.”
Nitin Gajria, the managing director for Google in Africa,
said the company was building a subsea internet cable connecting Europe and
Africa. The cable is named after Nigerian abolitionist, Olaudah Equiano.
“Research tells us that for every 10% increase in broadband
penetration, GDP increases by 1.4%, and in five years, 300 million Africans
will come online for the very first time,” Gajria said.
“Google is invested in building our global infrastructure to
bring everyone online; this includes Equiano, state of the art subsea cable
that would connect Africa with Europe. We are already making tremendous
progress on branches landing in Nigeria, Namibia, St. Helena, and South
Africa.”
INCREASE NIGERIA’S INTERNET SPEED BY FIVEFOLD
Gajria said the subsea cable will increase Nigeria’s
internet speed by fivefold while cutting prices by 21 percent.
“Equiano will provide approximately 20 times more network
capacity than the last cable built to serve Africa,” he added.
“This will lead to a 21 percent drop in internet prices as
well as a fivefold and increase internet speed in Nigeria and almost triple in
South Africa.”
He projected that this will create about 1.7 million jobs in
Nigeria and South Africa by 2025 as the digital economy grows.
The tech giant also announced soft loans to help small
businesses in Africa grow and recover from the coronavirus-induced pandemic.
The company also launched an Africa Investment Fund, which
will invest $50 million in startups, granting them access to its employees,
network and technologies.
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