The Federal Government of Nigeria is currently in talks with Google Alphabet Inc., to deploy a new undersea fiber-optic cable.
This was announced on Tuesday, December 23, marking a transition by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to eliminate a single point of failure in the digital infrastructure of the country.
According to NITDA Director General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Nigeria currently relies on subsea cables that follow identical geographic paths to Europe. This concentration makes the $1 trillion digital economy target of Nigeria vulnerable to disruptions if a single cable is damaged.
In September 2025, Google unveiled its intention to expand its footprint in Africa by announcing plans for four new infrastructure hubs, cutting across the North, South, East, and West of the continent. These hubs include landing stations and data centers designed to link its newest cables, Equiano and Umoja, to local markets.
The new cable will follow a different path than existing links to Europe, in order to provide a backup that will ensure connectivity even if primary cables are damaged.
A Google spokesperson confirmed that talks are at an advanced stage, building on Google’s surpassed $1 billion investment pledge for African digital transformation.
Nigeria’s current reliance on cables that follow the same path is a ‘single point of failure.’ We want to increase our existing links… to help transform Nigeria into a digital hub – Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, DG of NITDA
The new Google cable and its associated infrastructure hubs are to be completed within the next three years. This would lower the cost of wholesale data for local providers like MTN and Airtel, leading to cheaper data plans for consumers. NITDA is also working with the World Bank on a 90,000km terrestrial fiber rollout to ensure this subsea capacity reaches the last mile in rural Nigeria.
