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(Ecofin Agency) – Google has revealed plans for a new fiber optic cable system named Umoja, connecting Africa to Australia to enhance digital connectivity across the continent. The American tech giant announced this initiative on Thursday, May 23. The terrestrial portion of the network will be built in partnership with Liquid Intelligent Technologies.
This segment will link Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. From there, a subsea link will be established to reach Australia through the Indian Ocean.
Google states that the Umoja cable is part of the Africa Connect project, akin to the Equiano cable announced in 2019, which connects Africa to Europe. This new investment comes amid recurring outages on the submarine cables serving the continent, causing internet disruptions.
The most recent incident dates back to May 12 when failures in the SEACOM and EASSY submarine cable systems caused disruptions in several countries in East and Southern Africa. Similar outages occurred in March on the WACS, MainOne, ACE, SAT3, Seacom/TGN, AAE1, and EIG cables, affecting about ten countries in West, Central, and Southern Africa.
“This initiative is crucial in ensuring the redundancy and resilience of our region’s connectivity to the rest of the world, especially in light of recent disruptions caused by cuts to sub-sea cables. By strengthening our digital backbone, we are not only improving reliability but also paving the way for increased digital inclusion, innovation, and economic opportunities for our people and businesses,” stated William Ruto, Kenya’s president.
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