The first department of Google’s Equiano underwater web cable — which can finally run from Cape Town, South Africa to Lisbon, Portugal — has landed in Lomé, Togo, the corporate Friday. The huge fiber optic cable will likely be Google’s first to run from Africa to Europe, and is predicted to carry web connectivity to hundreds of thousands of individuals throughout each continents. This will likely be particularly impactful in Togo, the place based on an estimated 74 p.c of individuals don’t have entry to the web. The cable is predicted to ship 20 occasions extra web capability to the area.

Google started investing closely in subsea cable web practically a decade in the past, with its first co-owned cable mission Unity (which stretches from Chikura, Japan to Redondo Beach, California) going into service in 2010. The firm has invested in—both solely or as part of a consortium — a complete of . Its most just lately accomplished mission, Dunant, went into service in January 2021 and runs from Virginia Beach to the French Coast.

Alphabet removed from the one tech big to take a position closely in , which have grow to be extra ubiquitous with the expansion of the cell web. Google together with Meta, Microsoft and Amazon now dominate the world’s crucial cable infrastructure, because the Wall Street Journal . Last month, Meta introduced plans to construct no less than two by 2027.

Undersea cables have one notable draw back: The cables can tear and , both because of pure disasters or human exercise like . Cable breaks are notably alongside the coasts of Africa, and may depart complete areas with out connectivity for . Last yr a large mudslide in South Africa prompted two undersea cables to , which led to service disruptions and slowdowns throughout the complete continent. But within the occasion of a break, a close-by undersea cable can be utilized as a backup.

Once in service, Equiano will present further insurance coverage to a area that badly wants it. After Togo, Equiano’s subsequent cease will likely be in Nigeria and Namibia, earlier than heading to its last touchdown in Cape Town, South Africa. It is predicted to be absolutely in service later this yr.