Google has announced its plan to construct the first subsea fiber-optic cable connecting Africa and Australia, named “Umoja.” The new cable will start in Kenya and pass through several African countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, before reaching South Africa, where Google’s first African data center is located.
“Umoja will enable African countries to more reliably connect with each other and the rest of the world,” stated Brian Quigley, Google Cloud’s VP for global network infrastructure. Establishing this new route is vital for maintaining a resilient network in a region prone to high-impact outages.
Why it matters: The Umoja cable is set to significantly enhance internet connectivity across various African nations by establishing a new, reliable route that extends across the Indian Ocean to Perth, Australia. This development promises to provide a more stable connection for both consumers and businesses, potentially transforming digital access and economic opportunities in the region.
- Strategic Competition: This development highlights the intensifying competition among cloud giants, with Google striving to catch up to AWS and Microsoft Azure by enhancing its global infrastructure.
- Partnership and Progress: Google has already completed the terrestrial portion of the route in collaboration with Liquid Intelligent Technologies and is now focusing on the subsea segment to Perth, Australia. While no completion date has been confirmed, typical projects of this nature take about three years, suggesting a possible operational date around 2026.
- Broader Implications: By improving connectivity, Google aims to enhance its service delivery, including faster data transfers and lower latency for both consumers and enterprises. This investment also reflects Big Tech’s increasing control over global internet infrastructure.
