"10m Nigerians to get free Wi-Fi facilities as Google Station opens"

Search giant, Google, will make available free Wi-Fi facilities in about 200 sites in Lagos, and five other states in Nigeria between now and 2019. Within this period, about 10 million Nigerians, including Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are expected to benefit immensely from this project. The other sites are Kaduna; Port Harcourt (Rivers state); Ibadan (Oyo state); Enugu, and Abuja...

Speaking with The Guardian and some other select media on Wednesday, in Lagos, Google’s Vice-President, Product Management, Anjali Joshi, said the service, which is targeted primarily at countries, where the next-billion Internet users are set to come from, aimed to give users fast, secure, and easy-to-use Wi-Fi experience. Joshi explained that in order to provide the service, Google offered fiber carriers, the companies, which build software for Internet-connected hardware, and venues a cloud-based platform and devices, which make it easier for them to provide, manage and monetise the Station hotspots. She disclosed that the initiative is a long term project and that the security aspect has been fortified and encrypted to guard against any breaches...

Joshi said Google was doing this because the Internet has the potential to completely transform Africa. “Across the globe, countries which have invested in nurturing digital and innovation-based cultures not only enjoy extraordinary wealth (and job creation), but have also transformed the way people live and do business. That positive change can only happen, however, if everyone can access the Internet,” she stressed.