Technology giant Google in conjunction with Convergence Partners, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Mitsui have signed an agreement to invest in CSquared, a broadband infrastructure company focused on building wholesale metro fibre optic networks and enabling internet access in Africa.
Headquartered in Nairobi Kenya, CSquared operates as an independent company with cumulative capital commitments of up to $100 million.
The company already has operational networks in Uganda and Ghana and plans to deploy networks in more countries.
The partnership will combine Google’s technical knowledge and expertise in deploying and operating wholesale metro infrastructure in Uganda and Ghana through Project Link with the additional capital, skills, and reach from all four investors.
Convergence partners is a pan-African ICT–focused private equity player, delivering enhanced investment returns while underpinning Continental development.
Its deep experience of active, value adding investing in the ICT sector in sub-Saharan Africa together with IFC’s experience spanning over 40 years supporting the development of the telecommunications sector will significantly bolster the scale and resources of CSquared in its continued quest to grow access to the Internet across the entire sub-Saharan region.
Mitsui ’s cross-industry capabilities, vast investment portfolio and global business presence, and its experience as a strategic investor in the ICT sector will also be another big boost.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets while Mitsui is one of the most diversified and comprehensive trading, investment and service enterprises in the world, with 137 offices in 65 countries as of April, 2017.
Africa lags behind most regions in broadband internet access — only six percent of Africans have access, making it difficult for the region to achieve its human and economic potential.
In a predominantly wireless environment like Africa, mobile networks depend upon high speed and reliable optical fibre to connect to cellular towers to enable them to provide high quality, wireless broadband services to customers.
Furthermore, fibre is becoming an increasingly important way for end users to directly access the Internet, especially large businesses, small and medium enterprises (SME), and educational institutions, research organizations, and residential estates although it remains expensive.
The move to deploy and operate infrastructure on a shared basis can help lower installation and consumer costs. The open access philosophy is integral to the CSquared model and its shareholders.
CSquared offers superior quality, affordable wholesale services to all licensed operators to unlock a thriving digital ecosystem.
“We believe that together under CSquared, we can get more done to roll-out and operate affordable, high-speed, and reliable infrastructure to expand internet access in Africa. Project Link has demonstrated the impact of shared wholesale infrastructure, and we’re excited to see CSquared bring more infrastructures to more service providers and their customers,” said Marian Croak, Vice-President at Google.
Project Link was rolled out in 2011 after Google identified a major barrier to more affordable, reliable broadband in Africa: the lack of fibre optic networks in major cities.
The project was an initiative to build world-class, high-speed urban fibre networks in Africa’s metropolises. In 2013, Google folded these efforts under a new company brand called CSquared with the aim of expanding access and lowering costs.
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CSquared would later build more than 800 km of fibre in Kampala and Entebbe, in Uganda; and more than 840 km of fibre in the Ghanaian cities of Accra, Tema, and Kumasi.
Currently, over 25 ISPs now use these metro fibre networks to offer broadband services and 4G data to end users, with over 1,200 tower and commercial building sites connected directly to CSquared’s fibre infrastructure.
“Research collaboration among universities in Uganda is important. Project Link and now CSquared gives us capacity that is well-priced for local collaboration, and provides us with a network that is scalable and easy to upgrade,” Isaac J. M. Kasana, CEO of Research and Education Network for Uganda (RENU) stated.
