Google Cloud has announced the launch of its Johannesburg cloud region in South Africa, a transformative step to provide cutting-edge cloud services for businesses across the continent. The region is now open for customer use, offering high-performance, secure, and low-latency cloud solutions.
According to the statement, this launch aligns with the exponential growth projected for Africa’s internet economy, expected to reach $180 billion by 2025, contributing 5.2% to the continent’s GDP. In commitment to Africa’s digital transformation, Google pledges $1 billion to invest in infrastructure, tech talent, and nurturing a dynamic startup ecosystem.
Different cloud providers have launched in Africa: Microsoft launched its Azure solution in 2018, Alibaba followed with its cloud offering in 2019 and Amazon launched its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud solution in 2020. However, the pain of cloud users in the continent hasn’t significantly reduced. Google hopes to accelerate the African tech ecosystem, providing organizations with the resources they need to scale, innovate, and compete in the global marketplace, but it is not clear if it will address the cost pain point with reflective pricing in local currencies.
With the addition of the Johannesburg region, Google Cloud boasts of 40 cloud regions and 121 zones, which together deliver Google Cloud services to over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Google has also integrated its cloud service with a secure network, comprising a system of high-capacity fiber optic cables under land and sea around the world, including its 144 TBPS Equiano subsea cable.
The company also received positive feedback from partner organizations, and existing Google Cloud customers across Africa from Pepkor IT, MTN Group, First National Bank, Liquid C2, Africa Digital Group, Deloitte Africa, Healthbridge, and Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator.
“As a company that’s committed to creating financial satisfaction in emerging markets, we’ve seen incredible scale and impact owing to Google Cloud’s infrastructure. The new cloud region brings our services closer to millions of people who need it, setting the pace for much bigger digital transformation across Africa. Powered by our collaboration with Google Cloud, people experience payments and digital banking differently everyday through our products. We’re excited to scale this impact to more markets with greater support from the new Google Cloud region”, said Felix Ike, the Chief Technology Officer, Moniepoint.
