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( Reuters ) – Google on Thursday launched a network of free Wi-Fi access points in Nigeria as part of its efforts to increase its presence in the nation's most populous nation. # 39; Africa.
Alphabet Property, has entered into a partnership with 21st Century, Nigeria's provider of cable networks, to provide its public Wi-Fi service, Google Station, in six locations in the commercial capital Lagos, including the # 1 39, airport of the city.
. According to World Bank data, some 25.7% of the population was using the Internet in 2016.
The poor internet infrastructure is a major challenge for companies operating in the country, which is the largest producer of African oil. Broadband services are either unreliable or unaffordable for many of Nigeria's 190 million inhabitants.
"We are deploying service today in Lagos, but we plan to expand it quickly to other sites," said Anjali Joshi, Reuters vice president at Lagos
. company said it 's intention to collaborate with ISPs to reach millions of Nigerians in 200 public spaces in five cities by the end of 2019.
It has stated that it would generate cash from the service in Nigeria by placing Google ads in the login portal. Google has not disclosed the amount invested in the new Nigerian service.
The technology company announced that it plans to share its revenues with its partners to help them maintain and deploy the Wi-Fi service, without disclosing the expected advertising revenues. 19659002] Nigeria is the fifth country to launch Google Station. Similar services have been launched in India, Indonesia, Mexico and Thailand.
The service is intended for countries with rapidly expanding populations. The United Nations estimates that Nigeria will be the third most populous country in the world, after China and India, by 2050.
"Many people who find that the data are too expensive for use them use it, "said Joshi. "In India, we have tens of millions of users and nearly a million in Mexico."
The rapid growth of the African population, lower data costs and the adoption Mbadive mobile phones make it an attractive investment prospect for technology companies. But many do not reveal how much the continent's markets are profitable or whether they are making money to companies.
Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo praised efforts to improve Internet connectivity at a conference at Google Thursday. "Access to information means that the gap between equality and exclusion is bridged," said Osinbajo, who met earlier this month with Google's general manager. , Sundar Pichai, at the Silicon Valley headquarters
. Millions of Africans in online skills within five years.
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