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Google launches fibre broadband in Kampala

We’re a bit late to this story, for which we humbly apologise, but search engine provider Google has announced that it is going to build a high-speed fibre optic broadband network in the Ugandan capital Kampala, which will provide local ISPs with access to “faster, more reliable internet”. Google already provides fibre access in three US cities, but Project Link – the codename for the Ugandan initiative – is different in that this is less about beefing up consumer access as improving the network in the city as a whole.

Writing on the Google Africa blog, the firm’s Kai Wulff explains:

Project Link’s network is available today to connect providers to long-distance fiber lines, equipping them with near-unlimited capacity to build and expand services to Ugandans. By making this connection, we’re strengthening a crucial piece of the Internet supply chain. Some parts of the chain are already strong: undersea cables are bringing data to Africa’s shores and mobile providers are expanding services across the continent. We’ve now built quality infrastructure in between these points to deliver the speed and capacity that supports the latest and greatest of the web.

Project Link is certainly good news for citizens of Kampala, and for the continent as a whole as it’s highly unlikely this will be Google’s only venture into fibre here. While it may seem surprising, both Google and its rival Microsoft are focussing a lot of attention at helping people to get online and solving basic connectivity issues. Getting more people connected to good internet services is important from a business point of view: the more people who are searching for content in Africa, the more ads Google can sell on its homepage. It also plays well with CSI obligations since internet access has been identified as incredibly important for social and economic development.

So far, this has largely been through trials of TV White Spaces technology and Google’s balloon-powered Project Loon experiment. Project Link, however, is the first serious investment – although exactly how big an investment it is hasn’t been revealed yet – in traditional connectivity technology on the continent.

And will no doubt annoy the mobile operators, who generally see it as their job to connect people and tend to get a bit defensive when someone strays onto their turf.

Google’s made a little video about Project Link, below.

(Via ZDNet)

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