Google’s Project Link to lower Internet costs
Men dig trenches where fibre optic cables for Google’s last-mile-Internet cables were laid recently. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OTAGE
Google has launched Project Link to enable suppliers access high speed and reliable internet without investing a lot of money for upgrading base stations.
This means internet Service Providers (ISPs) and mobile phone operators will pay lower overhead expenses for doing business.
Speaking at a media round table in Kampala yesterday, the Access field development director Google, Mr Kai Wulff said the initiative will enable local Internet service providers to concentrate on coming up with more innovative products and connect more people to a faster and reliable Internet, which will in turn boost internet connectivity in the country.
“Computer and mobile phone technology advances daily but there is still one link which is hard to upgrade and that is the link to the base stations or transmitters. Upgrading transmitters means adequate capacity coming into the country but the link that brings it to base stations to offer high speeds is still a challenge,” Mr Wulff said.
The high capacity fibre network will provide a link between existing local networks to the undersea cables that pipe internet between continents, in a sustainable manner.
According to Google, Project Link will connect the ISPs long-distance fiber lines, equipping them with near-unlimited capacity to build and expand services to Ugandans, and they will be charged a fee to hook into Google’s infrastructure.
He added that the firm has also built quality infrastructure between Africa’s undersea cables to its Project Link for greater speed and capacity for the latest and greatest of the web.
Although he declined to divulge into the total project cost, Mr Wulff said, the average cost of laying a fibre network cable is estimated at between Shs15,000 and Shs20,000 per kilometre.
“I can’t give a total figure because I don’t know how many kilometers we will lay at the end of the entire project” he said. A number of firms including Orange have signed up to tap into the Project Link network, which has been laid since May this year in and around Kampala.
Mr Godfrey Kisekka, the chief technology officer Orange Uganda, said: “The partnership with Google will enable us to provide users with the best network coverage and high-quality services.”
