Google has announced a substantial fiber optic cable project that will create a new cable network from Kenya to South Africa and then travel subsea across the ocean to Australia, the tech giant announced Thursday.Dubbed Umoja, the cable route will be set up in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, ending on Australia’s west coast. Umoja means “unity” in Swahili. “I am delighted to welcome Google’s investment in digital connectivity, marking a historic milestone for Kenya, Africa, and Australia. The new intercontinental fiber optic route will significantly enhance our global and regional digital infrastructure,” said Kenya’s President William Ruto in a statement. “This initiative is crucial in ensuring the redundancy and resilience of our region’s connectivity to the rest of the world, especially in light of recent disruptions caused by cuts to subsea cables,” Ruto added.In March, cut telecom cables in the Red Sea north of Kenya disrupted an estimated 25% of internet traffic around Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Four of 15 cables there were reportedly cut, causing internet providers to reroute traffic through other means. More infrastructure and internet options means users may be less likely to experience future service disruptions due to network hardware issues. Google is also signing an agreement with the Kenyan government’s Ministry of Information Communications and the Digital Economy to pursue various future cybersecurity and AI efforts, according to the post. Kenya is also considering Google Cloud’s CyberShield, a cybersecurity offering Israel adopted in August last year.
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Google has been backing and constructing undersea, intercontinental fiber optic cables since 2008, helping build a $300 million trans-Pacific subsea cable network connecting Japan to the west coast of the US. In 2019, Google announced a subsea cable network down the west coast of Africa. The tech giant has also expanded its cable networks in Europe, unveiling another subsea network from the US to Europe in 2018 and more in the UK in 2021. More recently, Google announced its Honomoana and Tabua cables last year, which will connect Fiji and French Polynesia to Australia and the US.
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