Google recently unveiled a new product known as Umoja– the first fibre optic line that will directly link Africa with Australia to enhance the availability and stability of digital infrastructure in Africa.
Starting in Kenya, the Umoja cable route will have links to Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa the Google Cloud region – before stretching across the Indian Ocean to Australia. The terrestrial route of Umoja was set first in consultation with Liquid Technologies to establish an inclined route across Africa that is also immensely scaling which has laid down certain junctions that will help other countries to join the network.
Umoja, which is derived from the Swahili language, translates to unity and is part of a campaign associated with Equiano known as Africa Connect. The above theory will make a positive impact by enabling African countries to have more reliable communication links to their counterparts in the world. The lack of any strategic redundancy for connectivity routes is a major concern, and creating a new route different from these is important to keep a region’s network strong where outages have historically been frequent and severe.
In their reaction, the African countries have appreciated Google for its attempt to link Africa with people, firms, and government throughout the continent and globally.
“Access to the latest technology, supported by reliable and resilient digital infrastructure, is critical to growing economic opportunity. This is a meaningful moment for Kenya’s digital transformation journey and the benefits of today’s announcement will cascade across the region,” U.S. Ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman, said.
President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E. Dr. William S. Ruto, remarked. “I am delighted to welcome Google’s investment in digital connectivity, marking a historic milestone for Kenya, Africa, and Australia. The new intercontinental fibre optic route will significantly enhance our global and regional digital infrastructure.”
Australian Minister for Communications, Hon Michelle Rowland MP, stated: “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.”
“Diversifying Australia’s connectivity and supporting digital inclusion across the globe are both incredibly important objectives, and Google’s Umoja cable will help to do just that. Australia welcomes Google’s investment and congratulates all those involved in undertaking this crucial initiative.”
Strive Masiyiwa, Chairman and founder of Liquid, said: “Africa’s major cities including Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali, Lubumbashi, Lusaka, and Harare will no longer be hard-to-reach endpoints remote from the coastal landing sites that connect Africa to the world. They are now stations on a data superhighway that can carry thousands of times more traffic than currently reaches here. I am proud that this project helps us deliver a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind, regardless of how far they are from the technology centres of the world.”
