Internet in South Africa could soon be 20 per cent cheaper with the help of Equiano subsea internet cable, according to Google.
The Equiano subsea internet cable landed in South Africa in early August. Earlier, it landed in Togo, Nigeria and Namibia. The Equiano subsea internet cable, stretching 15,000 km from Portugal to South Africa along the west coast of the continent, features 12 fibre pairs and a design capacity of 150Tbps in order to boost internet connectivity.
According to Nitin Gajria, the managing director of Google in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Equiano cable has 20 times more network capacity than the last cable built to serve this region.
While attending the AfricaTech festival at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, Gajria said that the Equiano internet cable is faster and lower-cost internet. Gajria further said, “This would be somewhere in the range of 20% cheaper internet locally.”
According to Gajria, the first phase of the Equiano subsea internet cable is expected to begin in December. It will start feeding more network capacity through the west coast of Africa and South Africa.
Gajria said that access to an internet-enabled device and access to fast affordable data is the rights of the people. According to Gajria, the Equiano internet cable is bringing in a lot more supply of network capacity into the continent.
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Earlier this year, the 2Africa cable, the longest subsea cable in the world, touched down in Marseille, France. The 2Africa cable aims to connect 33 countries and the continents of Africa, Europe and Asia by 2023. The landing of Equiano in South Africa coincided with the landing of the 2Africa cable, paving the way for further internet connectivity in the region.
With the help of this cable, people will have access to cheaper internet in more parts of Africa, including the rural areas.
