Google and WIOCC, a cable landing partner, have announced the landing in Lagos, Nigeria, of the State-of-the-Art Equiano Subsea Cable.
The cable will become a critical element in meeting Nigeria’s current and future international connectivity demands.
The Equiano cable will start in Portugal in western Europe, run more than 12,000km along the West Coast of Africa and initially land in Lomé, Togo; Lagos, Nigeria; Swakopmund, Namibia; Rupert’s Bay, Saint Helena and Melkbosstrand, South Africa; establishing a valuable new high-capacity connection between the African continent and Europe.
The Equiano cable will help support further digital transformation in Nigeria. This country has produced five start-up unicorns (companies now valued at more than $1 billion) in the past five years.
Africa Practice and Genesis Analytics said that once the Equiano cable had become fully operational, anticipated later this year; it is expected to increase internet speeds by a factor of six, reduce internet retail prices by 21%, increase internet penetration by six percentage points and boost Nigeria’s GDP by US4 10.1 billion by 2025.
This cable will also boost job creation by 1.6 million jobs by 2025 and cut carbon emissions by 2.8 million per annum.
Juliet Ehimuan, Director, West Africa at Google, said Google is committed to supporting Africa’s digital transformation and that Equiano has the most significant potential effect in Nigeria and throughout Africa.
Chris Wood, Chief Executive Officer of WIOCC, said it was proud to have been selected by Google as the landing partner for the Equiano cable in Nigeria, landing the line directly into the OADC Lagos data centre. From there, it will be extended to other data centres across Lagos.
He added that the Equiano cable would deliver improved internet quality, speeds and affordability to the people of Nigeria. However, for the benefits to be fully felt throughout Nigeria, hyper-scale connectivity needs to be extended from the Lagos area to the rest of the country.
WIOCC is also deploying a comprehensive, hyper-scale national fibre network to make this happen.
The network will go live in phases, starting in June and continuing through to the end of the year. When combined with the Equiano cable, this network will deliver transformational benefits across the country.
Last month, the Equiano subsea cable made its first landing in Africa in Lomé, Togo, confirming the commitment made at the Google for Africa 2021 event to help increase internet access across Africa.
