Google has started building the first underwater fiber optic cable that will connect Africa with Australia, the two previously least connected parts of the world, under the name Umoja, following Google’s Equiano connecting Africa and Europe.
The new cable will start in Kenya, go through Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and RSA, and then lead to Australia under the sea. The new infrastructure will contribute to improving and recovering the internet coverage on the continent, compensation for a lack of both submarine and land infrastructure.
The land part of Umoja is built in cooperation with Liquid technologies with the intention to improve the general connectivity across the continent.
Network infrastructure is the area that is now actively developed and invested in. For example, Microsoft is planning to build a $1 billion worth geothermal data center in Kenia for developing cloud infrastructure in Africa.
