Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Denver news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Des Moines news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Minneapolis-St. Paul news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Tampa Bay news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Charlotte news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
In a phone interview with Bloomberg Wednesday, the head of Google's South Africa office Luke McKend said the company is laying around 621 miles of fiber optic cable in Uganda, a move similar to what Facebook announced two weeks ago.
Fiber optic cable will help Google expand its existing efforts in the country — like internet training — that have been deterred by slow transmission rates and high data costs for the skyrocketing number of Africans who own smartphones. McKend says Google is already working on laying down a similar amount of cable in Ghana, and that the effort is part of a larger push into Africa that includes providing cheaper access to Android smartphones and training African workers in digital fluency.
Why it matters: Both Google and Facebook, facing saturated advertising markets in most of the word — particularly the U.S. — are looking to expand their reach into the African market and more importantly, get data from the roughly 30% of Africans that have access to the Internet. The first company to capture a sizable amount of digital audience data in Africa will be the first to be able to monetize usage in the continent.