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Google Digs Up Excitement Among Ugandan Tech Entreprenuers

Google Digs Up Excitement Among Ugandan Tech Entreprenuers

From International Business Times:

When Google came to Uganda’s capital city of Kampala, Joseph Kasedde was elated. “It’s amazing seeing men waking up early and digging the streets, laying [fiber-optic] cables,” he said. “But knowing that the power behind this is Google is even more wonderful.”

Kasedde is president of the Kampala Campus Technology Association at the Islamic University in Uganda. For years, he and his colleagues have seen their work suffer from slow, unreliable Internet connections. But that may change now that Google Inc. has begun Project Link, which is laying a vast web of fiber-optic cables beneath the city’s streets.

“Project Link is building a metro fiber network and making it available to mobile operators and ISPs [Internet service providers], providing high-capacity fiber at a lower cost than any one provider could build themselves. The goal is to deliver capacity to operators that can build on this infrastructure to improve service for customers,” said Kai Wulff, Google’s access field development director, adding that the company has already installed about 160 kilometers (100 miles) of cable in central Kampala and will continue expanding the network toward the neighboring city of Entebbe.

Kasedde says that makes him optimistic about the future of Kampala’s burgeoning tech scene. “By bringing a first-class network to the classroom, students will have greater opportunities,” he added. “Entrepreneurs get a global audience at their fingertips, as well as the benefit of seeing real-time news or sharing massive files with ease. Companies can deliver faster and more accurate services, leading to more empowered customers and stronger commerce.”

Witten by Jacey Fortin | Read more at International Business Times