In 2021, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the tech giant would invest $1 billion in Africa over the coming five years to assist a variety of projects ranging from enhanced connectivity to startup financing with the aim of helping and easing the digital transformation of the African regions. Finally this week, Google has announced the opening of its first cloud region in the continent, which will be located in South Africa. The region will join Google cloud’s global network of 35 cloud regions and 106 zones worldwide (Google to Establish Its 1st Cloud Region in Africa, 2022) and it will allow the firm to go after competitors such as Amazon Web Service (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, that have already established in the region since some years.
As Google’s CEO stated, the company is constructing Dedicated Cloud Interconnect locations in Nairobi (Kenya), Lagos (Nigeria), and both Capetown and Johannesburg (South Africa) in order to deliver full-scale cloud infrastructure to its clients and suppliers spread out in the African continent. In addition, Google intends to power the installations via “Equiano”, its own undersea connection cable collocated between Africa and Europe.
The choice of South Africa was influenced by the market’s potential and the substantial lack of clouds storage. Indeed, as early-adopters e-commerce businesses, such as South Africa’s TakeAlot and Kenya’s Twiga, are massively developing in the region, the tech giant is willing to expand its service in more African markets to capture the increasing demand. Moreover, the demand has been enhanced by the implementation of governmental regulations on data privacy and security in countries like Kenya, calling enterprises for storing data on safe clouds accessible by servers hosted locally.
In compliance with AlphaBeta Economics for Google Cloud, the South Africa cloud area is likely to generate more than $2.1 billion to the country’s GDP, creating more than 40,000 jobs by 2030 (A. Njanja, T. Kene-Okafor, 2022). Besides, Google’s commitments in supporting non-profits projects to improve stadard of living will keep going in Africa, which already amounts to $40 million cash.
Sources
Google to establish its 1st Cloud region in Africa. (2022, October 5). The Economic Times. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/google-to-establish-its-1st-cloud-region-in-africa/articleshow/94662876.cms
Njanja, A., & Kene-Okafor, T. (2022, October 5). Google picks South Africa for its first cloud region in Africa. TechCrunch. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/05/google-picks-south-africa-for-its-first-cloud-region-in-africa/
Pichai, S. (2021, October 6). Our $1 billion investment in Africa’s digital transformation. Google. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-africa/google-for-africa/
