As one of the world’s largest and best known corporations, Google’s plans never go unnoticed. The California-based giant must continuously increase its revenues around the world to ensure that it can continue to run smoothly. A yet un-tapped resources lies in the African continent. With a mere 17% internet penetration rate, this enormous land mass offers a huge number of potential users.
Ever the opportunist, Google is expanding its existing project in Uganda, in Eastern Africa, to Ghana, an equatorial West African country. Ghana is one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s best developed countries, yet it is still lightyears behind the west in terms of access to technology for non-urban populations.
Connecting the Dots
In 2013, Google launched Project Link, which builds fiber-optic networks to help Internet service providers and mobile operators increase the speed and reliability of their broadband. Kampala, Uganda’s capitol was the original test site for remarkably successful Project Link. Two years after its inception, Google has built 700km of fiber optic fables across Kampala, which has enabled 13 Internet service providers to increase internet connectivity speed. Unlike the Kampala project, however, the Ghana project will be the first to build in multiple cities at once.
On 1 October, Google announced it would be expanding this project to Accra, Ghana’s capitol, Tema and Kumasi (both urban hubs)—this network will ultimately be twice the size of the one in Kampala. According to Google country manager Ms. Estelle Akofio-Sowah, Google plans to build 1,200km of fiber across these urban areas. “With the help of Project Link, Internet providers in Accra, Tema and Kumasi will have access to a superfast fiber network that can help them enhance their services and meet the bandwidth needs of Ghana’s biggest cities,” she added.
Accra is a bustling city of 2.3million people on Ghana’s coast. Ghana has one of the most stable economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, making it appealing for international investment. Unfortunately, Accra’s electrical grid is prone to blackouts during the monsoon season. When this occurs, it is of the utmost importance for cellular networks to function with speed so that friends and families are able to check on one another to ensure their safety. This is but one of the many positive side effects of Google’s development in the fiber optic network.
The Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, hopes that, with the increase in connectivity, students will be able to better communicate with their peers around the globe to enrich their education. “Ghana’s creators and entrepreneurs are inspired by what they can do online, but today, their ability to participate fully on the Web can be hindered by the availability, quality and cost of Internet access. We aim to change that,” Akofio-Sowah said. Construction on the network began earlier this year, and Google hopes that it will go live in early 2016.
In recent years, Ghana has developed immensely as a result of increased funding by international bodies and strengthening of the rule of law and relevant governmental agencies.
This makes Ghana an even more attractive investment for Google. As education rates have increased, so to have the need to access information from outside of Ghana. Students and young people want to know what their peers in Johannesburg are doing, what their Norwegian counterparts are listening to and what the latest news is in Rio de Janeiro. To access this information, they need fast, reliable and easily accessible internet.
Google, Ghana and Development
According to the National Communications Agency, Ghana’s Internet penetration rate reached 40.7% in 2013 (the most recent year for which data is readily available). This figure alone shows how developed Ghana’s technological infrastructure is in comparison to the rest of the continent–Ghana’s internet penetration rate is nearly three times as high as the African average.
This announcement came just two weeks after the summit on the UN Sustainable Development Goals in New York. Increasing access to information communications technology (ICTs) is a key component of 4 of the 17 goals. Increasing Ghana’s connectivity to the world, and increasing the number of people who have access to the limitless knowledge available on the Internet, will undoubtedly change Ghana’s intellectual landscape.
While Google’s expansion is likely profit motivated, it may have hugely positive consequences for the Ghanaian people. It is through the fast dissemination of knowledge, largely over the internet, which societies are able to develop and change for the better.