The submarine cable Google Equiano Arrived to Togo and then on to Lisbon, Portugal, to Cape Town, South Africa, along the African coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Google expects Internet speeds in Togo to double from the current 10 Mbps to 21 Mbps by 2025, while retail Internet prices are expected to drop by 14% over the same period.
The company said that over the next three years, Equiano aims to indirectly create 37.000 new jobs in Togo, driven by growth in the digital economy and peripheral sectors.
The Equiano submarine cable is part of the project Google to build digital capacity in Africa. The new cable will also reach Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa, with branches offering connections to other countries.
Equiano is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2022 and will carry 20 times more network capacity than the last cable built to serve the region.
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Google's managing director for Africa in the Southern Sahara region, Nitin Gajria, said the company has worked with local partners to ensure the cable is capable of improving reliability in global communications.
"As 300 million people go online in Africa over the next five years, the Equiano cable is part of our ongoing commitment – expanding opportunities and improving connectivity to help bring the benefits of technology to more Africans. We are partnering with various telecom players where Equiano reaches to ensure that cable can reach more businesses and end users across Togo and the African continent more widely."
Minister of Posts, Digital Economy and Technological Innovation of Togo, Cina Lawson, said: “With this new cable, we will be able to meet the needs of the government's roadmap to reinforce the international connection to the global network".
