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Facebook, Google Will Circle Africa With Huge Undersea Cables To Get Millions Online To Use Their Services

Google and Facebook are ensuring hundreds of millions of people get online to use their services by putting underwater cables around Africa.

The world’s largest tech firms are facilitating internet infrastructure and by extension, causing a rapid growth in internet usage.

This is an effort aimed at driving down bandwidth costs and making it easier for tech giants to sign up more users, creating more of an audience for advertising.

Facebook is working on plans for ‘Simba’, named after the Lion King character, an underwater cable that will circle the continent with landings on multiple coasts.

Google’s underwater cable plans are much further along, as it has confirmed construction plans for a cable connecting Portugal and South Africa.

It’s unclear whether or not Facebook will partner with African telecoms operators, especially for funding while Google’s underwater cable plans, funded by the company itself, first phase due to be completed by 2021.

Google’s new cable, named Equiano, will have 20 times the capacity of the most recent projects laid in the region and will first branch out in Nigeria—Africa’s largest internet market.

Africa is the youngest continent by age of its population which represents a significant opportunity for these firms to provide people with their business.

Despite high cost of access and the expected population boom in Africa, there has been a rapid growth in internet usage since 2005.

The total percentage of the population using the internet in Africa is just 24 per cent as over half the total population is without internet access.

But this represents significant improvement from 2005 when internet connections stood at just 2.1 per cent.

Google's new cable, named Equiano, will have 20 times the capacity of the most recent projects laid in the region and will first branch out in Nigeria—Africa's largest internet market (file photo)

WHAT IS GOOGLE’S EQUIANO CABLE?

Google announced that it will be commissioning a new subsea cable, named Equiano.

 It will connect Africa and Europe.

Google signed a contract with Alcatel Submarine Networks in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The first phase of the project, which connects South Africa and Portugal, is expected to be completed in 2021.

 Equiano will have approximately 20 times more network capacity than the last cable built to serve this region.

In fact, Africa recorded the highest growth in internet use globally between 2005 and 2018, resulting in a significant global internet usage milestone, according to Quartz Africa.

Deployment of high-capacity fiber-optic cables will ultimately improve connectivity and likely make internet costs cheaper, allowing more Africans to get connected.

For Google and Facebook, this also represents a larger target market for their products and advertising services.

Both companies have tried to get people on the continent to use their services.

In 2016, Facebook launched Free Basics, a platform which allows users access a select list of websites at no cost in partnership local telecoms operators in over 20 African countries.

But the service was controversial was criticised ed for being a ‘walled garden’, that controls the user’s access to web content and services, curated by Facebook.

Google has launched a free public wifi service in Lagos and Nigeria.

They are also testing Project Loon, a plan to beam internet to users using solar-powered high-altitude balloons, in Kenya in three weeks time.

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WHAT ARE THE PLANS TO SUPPLY THE WORLD WITH INTERNET?

The ROK GROUP will be launching a City Wide Wi-Fi network across 25 Indian cities.

The move comes in line with the Indian Government’s efforts to provide internet access to every Indian City.

Wide Wi-Fi Network will offer internet access across large portions of India and will be operated in association with BSNL.

It was founded with one purpose, to bring high-speed internet to India.

Elon Musk’s STARLINK project pioneers the use of low-orbit satellites to provide more efficient internet for the world.

SpaceX intends to start launching operational satellites as early as 2019, with the goal of reaching the full capacity of 4,425 satellites in 2024.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have approved the plan, which just requires SpaceX to launch 50 per cent of the satellites by March 2024, and all of them by March 2027.

They are the first in a constellation of thousands of satellites, designed to provide low-cost broadband internet service from low Earth orbit.

FACEBOOK is working on plans for project ‘Simba’, named after the Lion King character, an underwater cable that will circle the continent with landings on multiple coasts.

 Facebook is in talks to develop an underwater data cable that would encircle the continent, according to people familiar with the plans, an effort aimed at driving down its bandwidth costs and making it easier for the social media giant to sign up more users.

GOOGLE‘s underwater cable plans are much further along, as it has confirmed construction plans for a cable connecting Portugal and South Africa.

Google’s cable, named Equiano, will have 20 times the capacity of the most recent projects laid in the region and will first branch out in Nigeria—Africa’s largest internet market.

Source: Dailymail

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