Google secretive about local operations
Google established a presence in South Africa towards the end of last year, and appointed then Novell SA's MD, Stafford Masie, as their new country manager.
In November the local Google branch held a ‘Get to know Google’ event where Masie and others interacted with local online players. During the event Masie promised to push the issue of broadband in South Africa, and at a later event also promised to establish a local Google server farm in South Africa before the end of 2007.
Since then the company has been very quiet with Masie telling ITWeb that “We are not really talking to the media at the moment. I will not be able to talk about the company's strategy and our plans for the year.”
Masie however indicated that he wants “to see pervasive access, and we want to see costs go down. I intend to interact with all stakeholders, highlighting real-world examples of the benefits of broadband access.”
A recent briefing in Johannesburg was more of the same, and while Masie said he engaged with local stakeholders, questions regarding the local server farms, Google’s South African plans and their staff compliment remained unanswered.
A constant however remains the company’s focus on mobile services. South Africa has a much higher mobile penetration rate than that of PC’s or broadband, and the company seems set to engage this market and create new revenue streams through this medium.
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