Google SA plans big broadband drive

Speaking at the recent ‘Get to know Google’ event in Bryanston Stafford Masie, Country Manager for Google South Africa, said that he will engage with all role-players, including Government, to emphasize the importance of broadband to grow the economy.

Masie said that he will leverage the strong Google brand to engage with people like the Minister of Communications and participate at cabinet level to clearly show the economic and social benefits of pervasive broadband.

Masie feels that the ‘dam wall is about to crack’ regarding broadband which should be a strong driver of revenue generating opportunities in the online space. According to Arthur Goldstuck, who also presented at the Google SA event, the broadband subscriber mark will reach 1.372 Million in 2008.

The Google SA Manager said that the local Google office, which is currently based in The Campus in Bryanston, will officially launch in February 2008. The company is however already interacting with local Internet players to grow the brand in South Africa.

Google, which already has a dominant share of the local search market, is planning to further grow its South African search dominance. Masie said that people should not fear Google as a monopoly, as ‘only bad monopolies do bad things’.

Mobile focus

Masie said that Google SA will focus on a few key areas, and despite the fact that he did not want to divulge too much information he did highlight mobile as one of their main focal areas.

Vodacom has earlier this year announced that they have already partnered with Google and that users can start to expect seeing Google applications on their mobile phones soon.

Google has also recently launched its own mobile platform called Android – an open source system which will rival traditional mobile platforms from providers like Microsoft and Nokia.

Local presence

Google is starting to establish its local presence with both personnel and general infrastructure, and according to some sources the company will host its servers in the Internet Solutions data centre.

Many parts of the Google service will however still be handled by Google EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) stationed in Dublin, Ireland.

Locally Masie said that Google SA will place a very strong focus on educating the market and making certain that companies become aware of the advantages of online advertising and services.

Masie said that he will send out a clear message that companies should not bet against the Internet.

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