We have written before about the dependence much of Africa has to the undersea SAT-3 cable running down its west coast from Portugal and Spain to South Africa.
We now discover that much of West Africa has suffered a major fault and are still struggling to get back online. The fault has caused a communications blackout and many problems in Benin, Togo, Niger and Nigeria. Some 70% of Nigeria's bandwidth has been effected, disrupting; banking, government and mobile phone networks. Companies have been forced to use satellite links just to maintain connections to the rest of the world.
The 9,300mile SAT-3 cable lands in eight West African countries as it winds its way between Europe and South Africa. On the other side of Africa the countries have had no alternative but to go to mobile communication, but the disparity and poor connectivity across the continent, shows the difference between the highly connected western world and the poorly unconnected third world.
Showing posts with label africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label africa. Show all posts
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Sunday, July 22, 2007
The Dark Continent
In places where hunger, AIDS and poverty are rampant, and electricity is often not guaranteed, is the internet really a priority? Last month I spoke in Cape Town about digitisation at the IBF conference. It is clear that the third world is far behind the developed world in technology infrastructure and connectivity, but where as Asia and Southern America are making ground, the lights are clearly switched off in Africa. The issue is not about entertainment and leisure reading but about communications and importantly education.
Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on this continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa’s population is connected to the Web and most subscribers are in countries that have strong western connections and relative stability such as South Africa and North Africa.
The lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, civil conflict has destroyed what existed and continuing political instability deters new investment. Africa’s only connection to the Internet’s backbone is still the 2002 cable running from Portugal down the west coast of Africa.
Ironically, E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States and about 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this same way at a significant costs. Many national telecommunications companies link to the sea cable and often maintain an access monopoly which further restricts usage. East Africa is heavily dependant on 20 year old and aging satellite technology for Internet service which offers slower and reduced bandwidth.
The result is that Africa remains the least connected region in the world. It is hoped that the ‘one laptop per child’ programme will start to make a difference, but we are seeing a gulf between not just the haves and have not’s, but the connected and unconnected widen.
Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on this continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa’s population is connected to the Web and most subscribers are in countries that have strong western connections and relative stability such as South Africa and North Africa.
The lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, civil conflict has destroyed what existed and continuing political instability deters new investment. Africa’s only connection to the Internet’s backbone is still the 2002 cable running from Portugal down the west coast of Africa.
Ironically, E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States and about 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this same way at a significant costs. Many national telecommunications companies link to the sea cable and often maintain an access monopoly which further restricts usage. East Africa is heavily dependant on 20 year old and aging satellite technology for Internet service which offers slower and reduced bandwidth.
The result is that Africa remains the least connected region in the world. It is hoped that the ‘one laptop per child’ programme will start to make a difference, but we are seeing a gulf between not just the haves and have not’s, but the connected and unconnected widen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)