Nigerians will benefit from cheaper Internet services after Google said that its Equiano undersea cable will lower retail Internet pricing by 21% after it is fully deployed.
The business announced this along with the landing of its Equiano subsea cable in Lagos on Thursday with the help of its cable landing partner, WIOCC.
The company also stated that its cable would enhance Internet speed by six times and penetration by six percent, while also increasing GDP by $10.1 billion in 2025 and creating 1.6 million employment.
When fully operating, the cable is expected to save 2.8 million tonnes of CO2 each year, according to the company.
The Equiano cable, according to it, begins in Portugal in Western Europe and runs over 12,000 kilometers down Africa’s West Coast, landing at Lomé, Togo, Lagos, Nigeria, Swakopmund, Namibia, Rupert’s Bay, Saint Helena, and Melkbosstrand, South Africa.
According to Google, this will create a vital new high-capacity link between Africa and Europe.
“Google is committed to assisting Africa’s digital revolution, and we are delighted to see the impact of Equiano’s landing in Nigeria,” Juliet Ehimuan, Director, Google West Africa, stated during the occasion.
Equiano has been developed in collaboration with established partners and in-country specialists to ensure that it has the largest possible impact in Nigeria and across Africa.
“Equiano is poised to make a long-term contribution to the development of Nigeria’s communications infrastructure, and today marks a significant milestone in that process.” We are excited to keep our promise to be a part of Africa’s digital transformation.”
“We are happy to have been picked by Google as the landing partner for the Equiano cable in Nigeria, landing the cable directly into the OADC Lagos data center,” said Chris Wood, WIOCC’s Chief Executive Officer. It will then be expanded to other data centers throughout Lagos.
Nigerians would benefit from increased Internet quality, speeds, and pricing thanks to the Equiano cable.
However, in order for the benefits to be realized throughout Nigeria, hyper-scale connectivity from Lagos to the rest of the country must be extended. WIOCC is also building a nationwide, hyper-scale fibre network to achieve this goal.
“The network will be launched in stages, beginning in June and continuing until the end of the year. This network, when joined with the Equiano cable, will provide transformative benefits across the country.”
This new Equiano cable system, which arrived today, would supply twenty times the network capacity of any of the existing networks serving Nigeria, according to my sources.”
The Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, stated during the occasion that the cable would give 20 times the network capacity of any existing systems servicing Nigeria.
This, he claims, will result in faster Internet speeds, lower costs, and wider individual access, all of which will contribute to the development of jobs and economic growth.
“We say that all the time: wherever Lagos goes, Nigeria and West Africa follow,” he remarked. With this in mind, we are more motivated than ever as the government of Lagos State to keep our pledge to develop and preserve Lagos as a safe, livable, inventive, and successful megacity.
“The latest aspect in the evolution of our physical infrastructure landscape is this new cable system.” It joins a long list of new roads, bridges, jetties, factories, municipal and national rail lines, and other infrastructure projects being built by our government and a variety of public and private sector partners and stakeholders.”
