Global search engine giant Google has launched a lightspeed fibre network in the city of Kampala, Uganda to facilitate faster internet connection speeds.

Google’s Project Link aims to build a "super-fast, high-capacity fibre network to enable local mobile operators or internet service providers (ISP) to connect people in Kampala to faster and reliable internet", reads a Google Africa blog post.

With a population of almost three million people living in and around Kampala, internet access hasn’t been as fast and available as it could be, according to Google.

The search giant further says in its blog post that online activity often sputters on pre-broadband speeds or unreliable connections in Kampala.

"Project Link’s network is available today to connect providers to long-distance fiber lines, equipping them with near-unlimited capacity to build and expand services to Ugandans,” Google says in its blog post.

"By making this connection, we’re strengthening a crucial piece of the internet supply chain. Some parts of the chain are already strong - undersea cables are bringing data to Africa’s shores and mobile providers are expanding services across the continent. We’ve now built quality infrastructure in between these points to deliver the speed and capacity that supports the latest and greatest of the web," says Google.

Andrew Kitaka, director of engineering at Kampala Capital City Authority has said in a Google video post that “a faster and more reliable internet is the foundation for innovation."

"Everyone is yearning for faster internet, faster internet can help businesses grow and also help the existing business to communicate faster. That will lead to more investment in the city, and the city will prosper,” Kitaka has commented.

The search engine has also said it chose to launch Project Link in Kampala because of the city's dense urban centre, which is limited to what Google says is “pre-broadband speeds.”

Telecoms research firm BuddeComm says Uganda's internet subscriptions are booming at more than 200% annually.

However, more than 95% of internet connections in the country are done through mobile phones.

Fibre links to international submarine cables, such as Seacom, have helped boost that country's number of broadband connections, according to BuddeComm.

But the firm has further projected that at the end of 2013 the East African country's internet penetration rates would only stand at 16% of the country’s total population of 36 million.

This makes Uganda's internet penetration rates in line with that of the African continent, which is also 16%, according to the Internet World Stats.