- The Google Cloud region will land via the Equiano subsea cable.
- It forms part of the company’s $1 billion investment in Africa announced last year.
- The new region will also see Google expand its Dedicated Cloud Interconnect sites to four African cities.
Today Google kicked off its second annual For Africa event, with a live streamed keynote to unpack some of the commitments that the company is making for the continent. Many of these build off of the $1 billion investment announced by the company at the inaugural event last year. One of these commitments includes the first-ever Google Cloud region, which will be set up in South Africa.
The new Google Cloud region will help users, developers, businesses and educational institutions across Africa to move more information and tools online, improve access options for customers and in turn, create jobs, according to the company.
Citing research from AlphaBeta Economics commissioned by Google Cloud, the South Africa cloud region will contribute more than $2.1 billion to the country’s GDP, and will support the creation of more than 40 000 jobs by 2030.
Given the current unemployment crisis in the country, we’re hoping that the majority of jobs are filled locally.
“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,” noted Niral Patel, Director of Google Cloud Africa (pictured above).
“Along with the cloud region, we are expanding our network through the Equiano subsea cable and building Dedicated Cloud Interconnect sites in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos and Nairobi. In doing so, we are building full scale Cloud capability for Africa,”he added.
The company is already working with a handful of large enterprises in SA, specifically on the ecommerce front, highlighting Takealot as a customer.
“Google Cloud works with leading retailer Takealot to help their three million local customers enjoy a hassle-free online shopping experience. Takealot built its e-commerce platform on Google Cloud, which has enabled the business to avoid system crashes during high-traffic periods like Black Friday,” explained Google in a press release sent to Hypertext.
No definitive dates have been mentioned as to when this region will be up and running, but it looks like businesses have more options when it comes to hyperscalers, with Microsoft Azure and AWS already accessible.
