85% of the African population lives south of the equator. 1.1 billion souls. And Google finally deploys the first data center there. I am glad for it. The only

85% of the African population lives south of the equator. 1.1 billion souls. And Google finally deploys the first data center there. I am glad for it. The only way for Africa to rise into its proper standing in the world for the 21st century is to enable its IT infrastructure. Azure deployed data centers in both Capetown and Johannesburg in 2019, being the first major cloud vendor in the region (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-south-africa-regions-are-now-available/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-south-africa...) AWS opened its Capetown AZ in 2020, after making a pledge to do so in 2018 (https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/now-open-aws-africa-cape-town-region https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/now-open-aws-africa-cape-to...) Oracle Cloud launched in South Africa in 2022 (https://www.oracle.com/news/announcement/oracle-cloud-johannesburg-region-2022-01-19/ https://www.oracle.com/news/announcement/oracle-cloud-johann...) Alibaba made a partnership with BCX to get into South Africa in 2023 (https://www.itweb.co.za/article/bcx-goes-live-with-alibaba-cloud-service-in-south-africa/5yONPvErzY37XWrb https://www.itweb.co.za/article/bcx-goes-live-with-alibaba-c...) So kudos to Google. But it took them long enough.