Internet giant Google has announced a new set of investments for the African continent, with SA being a recipient of some of the spend, adding to the more than R17bn over the past four years on the continent.
On Thursday, the Silicon Valley company lifted the lid on four “strategic” subsea cable connectivity hubs in the northern, southern, eastern and western regions of Africa. SA will have the hub for the southern part of the continent.
“This investment creates new digital corridors within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world — ultimately deepening international connectivity and resilience, as well as spurring economic growth and opportunity,” the company said.
These new announcements are in addition to the $1bn (R17.36bn) investment in Africa announced in 2022, which Google said it had delivered on. However, the group did not disclose how much it would be spending on the latest investment drive.
Expanded broadband connectivity
Google has focused much of its capital expenditure in Africa on broadband connectivity and infrastructure in recent years, with the aim of pushing up internet usage in the region. Such usage would, in turn, increase demand for its own services such as Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube and Gemini.
So far, that investment has included spend on its Google Cloud region in Johannesburg, which serves users across the continent; the Equiano undersea cable running along the entire western seaboard of the continent; and Umoja, the first fibreoptic route to directly connect Africa with Australia, running through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and SA.
Internet platforms such as Google, Microsoft, Netflix and others have been criticised over the years by telecommunications operators for not contributing enough to infrastructure development worldwide. In the network operators’ view, such companies are just benefiting from the information “super highway” without paying tolls.
As such, internet companies make an effort to highlight their investments.
Africa’s digital economy holds immense potential and it will be driven by the talent and ingenuity of its next generation.
— Alex Okosi
Google Africa operations MD
On the other side of that debate, platform owners argued that they had invested hugely into their technologies with no assistance from telecom operators, all while driving traffic for network providers.
Google said its investments to date “have enabled 100-million Africans to access the internet for the first time, and the Equiano cable alone is expected to increase real GDP this year in Nigeria, SA and Namibia by an estimated $11.1bn, $5.8bn and $290m, respectively”.
Last year, a study commissioned by the group found that Google’s operations in SA generated R118bn for the economy in 2023.
Google Africa operations MD Alex Okosi said: “Africa’s digital economy holds immense potential and it will be driven by the talent and ingenuity of its next generation. Today’s announcements, spanning AI education, advanced tools for students, and expanded connectivity, are a unified investment into the upward trajectory of the continent.
Region of opportunity
“We are committed to providing the foundational infrastructure, the cutting-edge tools and the financial support necessary for Africa’s youth to innovate, lead and build a thriving digital world.”
The tech company is also making a bet on securing its future in what many see as a region of huge opportunity in years to come, driven by a young population and a number of fast-growing economies.
For technology companies, the rapid adoption of mobile technology, fintech and e-commerce is an exciting prospect with evidence that it is already transforming the continent’s economy.
Local and international players are all working to set themselves up to take advantage of these trends.
In a recent interview Okosi told Business Day YouTube had 25-million viewers in SA, a sign of the group’s dominance in local entertainment.
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