The U.S. technology firm owned by Alphabet Inc has partnered with Nigerian fibre cable network provider 21st Century to provide its public Wi-Fi service, Google Station, in six places in the commercial capital Lagos, including the city’s airport.
Internet penetration is relatively low in Nigeria. Some 25.7 percent of the population made use of the internet in 2016, according to World Bank Data.
The poor internet infrastructure is a major challenge for businesses operating in the country, which is Africa’s largest oil producer. Broadband services are either unreliable or unaffordable to many of Nigeria’s 190 million inhabitants.
“We are rolling out the service in Lagos today but the plan is to quickly expand to other locations,” Anjali Joshi, Google’s vice president for product management, said in Lagos.
The company said it aimed to collaborate with internet service providers to reach millions of Nigerians in 200 public spaces, across five cities by the end of 2019.
It said it would generate cash from the service in Nigeria by placing Google adverts in the login portal. Google did not disclose the amount invested in the new Nigeria service.
The technology firm said it planned to share revenues with its partners to help them maintain and deploy the Wi-Fi service but did not disclose the expected advertising revenue split.
Africa’s rapid population growth, falling data costs and heavy adoption of mobile phones has made it an attractive investment prospect for technology companies.
Nigeria is the fifth country to launch Google Station. Similar services have been launched in India, Indonesia, Mexico and Thailand.
 |
| Youths are seen outside the venue of the launch of Google free wifi project in Lagos, Nigeria, July 26, 2018. |
“A lot of people who found data to be too expensive for them to use, are using it,” said Joshi. “In India, we have tens of millions of users, and close to a million in Mexico.”
However, many do not disclose how profitable the continent’s markets are, or if they make the companies money at all.
Last year, Google announced plans to train 10 million Africans in online skills within five years. It also said it aimed to provide $3 million in equity-free support to African start-ups.
 |
| President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, Nigeria Google country director, Juliet Ehimuan; VP, Project Management, Anjali Joshi and some beneficiaries of Google programs. |
According to Osinbajo, “We in Nigeria cannot train nearly 200 million young people by 2045 in classrooms alone; it’s impossible. We must use the internet and even mobile telephony. We must connect our young people to knowledge and information as is done all over the world. For instance, when we started the graduate employment programme that we have, tagged the Mpower programme, we were trying to access 200,000 people in the first phase and 300,000 in the next phase; ofcourse we couldn’t congregate that mass anywhere at any location in Nigeria without chaos. We had to resort to the internet.
We had to develop a platform which enabled us to conduct tests, get all their details, pay them and gave them tablets which they are working with, today. All of these would have not been possible without the internet. “Without connectivity, development trajectory of our nation and our continent is truncated. Today it is also becoming increasingly clear that the availability of food and health space of huge number of our people will depend on how democratized technology becomes. That is to say, we simply cannot provide food or drugs in Nigeria or Africa, without innovations in technology and agriculture.
“Every step in making technology hub available is a quantum leap in the African development story and a major contribution to global stability and growth. This is why the launch of Google Station event here in Lagos, Nigeria is an enormously significant development. It means that in collaboration with the indigenous technology company, 21st century Technology which will provide access, more Nigerians will connect into the internet. “More exciting for us is that the Google station is first launched in the market places. It is absolutely important because that is where the largest number of our people gathers”. He noted that millions of Nigerians have shared stories of how internet transformed their lives in positive ways, and so the government was trying its best to see that more people join in these testimonies.
.jpeg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment