Nigeria in Advanced Talks with Google to Establish New Subsea Cable for Digital Resilience

EcoPulse24

Nigeria is engaged in advanced talks with Google, part of Alphabet Group, to build a new undersea cable that will boost digital infrastructure in Africa's most populous nation and mitigate the risks of large-scale internet outages. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), confirmed that Nigeria aims to diversify its existing subsea cable routes to Europe, noting that current reliance on cables sharing the same geographic path represents a single point of failure threatening national digital service stability.

These discussions are part of Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen its status as a regional tech hub in West Africa. African nations have experienced frequent internet disruptions due to damage to existing subsea cables, with rising demand for data services, cloud computing, and advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence. Last September, Google announced plans to establish four strategic infrastructure hubs across North, South, East, and West Africa, connecting its latest Equiano and Umoja subsea cables to local networks. The company’s investments have already surpassed its initial $1 billion commitment to the continent announced in 2021.

By diversifying connectivity routes, Nigeria aims to improve access to reliable cloud computing and the computational power required to adopt advanced tools across sectors such as finance and public administration. The Nigerian government is also in talks with other global technology firms to attract private investment in its digital ecosystem. The enhanced infrastructure is expected to benefit startups, data centers, and regional service providers, bolstering resilience against external shocks in a rapidly growing digital economy. Previously, Google announced a $2.1 million investment to accelerate AI growth in Nigeria, with the goal of creating one million digital jobs and supporting the country’s expanding technology economy.