Google To Establish Its First Cloud Region in Africa

Google is set to establish a cloud region in South Africa, the first in the continent, that will assist users move their information and tools online.

The tech giant announced the plan during its second Google for Africa event in line with the commitment it made last year to deliver a Sh120.8 billion ($1billion) investment in Africa.

The project is estimated to pump some Sh253.7 billion ($2.1billion)  into South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and create 40,000 jobs by 2030 according to a research by AlphaBeta Economics.

Commenting on the announcement, Director of Google Cloud Africa Niral Patel noted that the multinational tech firm would also expand its network through the Equiano subsea cable and build dedicated Cloud Interconnect sites in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos and Nairobi to scale up Cloud capability for Africa.

“We believe in growing an open and healthy ecosystem of technology solutions to support Africa’s digital transformation goals which leads to more opportunities for businesses. It is part of our company-wide ethos to respect the environment, which is why we operate the cleanest cloud in the industry, supporting sustainable digital transformation,” said Patel.

“Our National Development Plan 2030 calls for stimulating growth in the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector and innovation by driving public and private ICT investment, especially in network upgrades and expansion. Google’s recent efforts in this regard have been particularly encouraging,” said Philly Mapulane South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies.

Moreover, Google has announced an improvement of its data on Street View in Kenya, South Africa, Senegal and Nigeria to help users virtually explore and navigate neighbourhoods imagery on their devices.

The firm is also extending the service to Rwanda which will bring the number of countries Street View can be accessed to 11, with nearly 300,000km of imagery covered.

Google has also launched voice typing support for nine more African languages on the Google keyboard (Gboard), bringing it to around 200 African languages now available on Google.