Google has announced its collaboration with two network-driven companies in an attempt to make internet more accessible and effective in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The company will give US$3.1 million to the Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC) for the development of local network engineering expertise in local universities and national and education networks (NRENs) in Sub-Saharan Africa “to help bring the next billion online”.
“Google is doing work to get more people connected, especially in places where internet access lags the most,” said Jennifer Roon, principal at Google.org, in a GoogleAfrica blogpost.
Laboratories and trainer programmes will be launched by the NSRC for network planning, management and operation on campuses of more than 600 universities.
The project aims to empower the students and staff of more than 50 institutions with internet and network engineering skills.
Another US$3.1 million will be provided to the Internet Society (ISOC) for the improvement and setup of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in emerging markets.
Investment decisions are motivated by the important role of IXPs in the field of internet infrastructure, which also aim to accomplish lowering of user costs, competition increase and enhanced user experience.
An ISOC toolkit, for the creation, build and improvement of IXPs, including an industry portal, is also in the pipeline.
These collaborative initiatives are viewed as a follow-up move on previous projects such as the release of Sub-Saharan education apps, offering technical assistance to promote internet capacity for internet providers.
The search engine giant believes it has only “scratched the surface on the potential of the web”, pointing to the five billion still without internet access.
Ways to use internet is viewed as one of the biggest global challenges, according to Google.
