Google launches Google Cloud to be hosted in South Africa, first in Africa

Google has announced a major step towards ensuring the African continent has an improved infrastructure by launching a cloud service.

Google Cloud infrastructure will be hosted in South Africa and this is the first service in the African continent, the cloud service specifically for the African continent.

The company, Google, announced on Wednesday saying the new so-called “Cloud region” will help users, developers, businesses and educational institutions across Africa to move more information and tools online. 

According to a report carried by Bloomberg, Niral Patel, director of Google Cloud Africa says they are expanding their infrastructure.

“Along with the cloud region, we are expanding our network through the Equiano subsea cable and building dedicated cloud sites in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos and Nairobi. In doing so, we are building full-scale cloud capability for Africa,” said Patel.

The Google Cloud users are set to be given the option to store their data in the country of their choice and this will allow companies to comply with local laws prohibiting the storage of data outside of the country, says Bloomberg.

News24 reports that in South Africa, Google already works with online retailer, Takealot, which has built its e-commerce platform on Google Cloud.

“Google faces competition from cloud service providers like Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the local market. AWS has been expanding its presence with new offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town,” said the website.

“The Equiano cable landed in Cape Town recently and connects Africa with Western Europe. It is expected to improve internet connectivity speeds and ultimately reduce data costs.”

In addition, the United States headquartered company, Google, is of the view that Africa’s digital economy has the potential to grow to $180 billion by 2025 – 5.2% of the continent’s GDP. 

This comes after the company recently launched voice-typing support for nine more African languages in Gboard, the Google keyboard. 

Some of the languages mainly used in South Africa include isiNdebele, isiXhosa, Northern Sotho, Swati, Sesotho, Tswana, Tshivenda and Xitsonga.

Main Image: Google/American Journal