Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu with Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor during the Equiano cable landing ceremony to mark the beginning of a reliable internet (Photo credit: TechEconomy)
One of the major concerns of ex-pats and holidayers when traveling to Africa is whether they will get reliable Internet speed. Well, for those touring urban centers, Internet connectivity is fairly stable in most African countries. Your speed can easily hit anywhere from 1 to 15 Mbps depending on the country. However, that cannot be guaranteed when you are touring rural areas.
Well, that may soon be a topic for history lessons. In April 2022, Google made a huge announcement that its Equiano subsea cable had landed in Lagos. The cable ran from Portugal through the coast of West Africa on its way to South Africa, Namibia, and Saint. Helena.
Before making landfall in Lagos, Nigeria, the cable had stopped in Togo a month earlier. The cable was named after a Nigerian-born author and abolitionist, Olaudah Equiano. It is one of the many cables that Google wants to run through Africa to boost broadband connection and guarantee reliable Internet speed.
Speaking at the landing ceremony, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor, the West Africa Director of Google said it would improve broadband penetration, service quality, and fast-track Nigeria’s digital economy advancement by 2025.
Further expanding on the benefits, she said, “Inasmuch as Nigeria is the largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, only 35% of people currently use the Internet as of 2020. The result of the ongoing digital transformation programs in the country is evident in the number of startups that have emerged in the country in the last five years.
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