East Africa gets High-Speed Internet Access
In the news last week, there was an exciting story that the first undersea fibre-optic cable in Eastern Africa has become live. This means that people in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Mozambique and parts of South Africa, who previously relied on expensive and slow satellite connections, now have access to high-speed internet access thanks to Seacom, an African-owned company.
The cable is hoped to help boost the prospects of the region’s industry and commerce. Seacom spokesman said that the cable will “reduce the cost of doing business in Africa, within Africa and with international parties” and said that it marked the “dawn of a new era for communications” between Africa and the rest of the world.
According to the BBC, businesses, which have been paying around $3,000 a month for 1MB through a satellite link, will now pay considerably less – about $600 a month. Moreover, the Kenyan government has been laying a network of cables to all of the country’s major towns and says the fibre-optic links will also enable schools nationwide to link into high quality educational resources, it says. But it also warns that it is not clear whether the internet revolution will reach the villages, many of which still struggle to access reliable electricity.
Also check out CNN for more on this great news.
-Mikiko Imai
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July 29, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Hello, Africa!! “Dawn of a new era for communications” -and a step toward Independence!!. WOW! This is exciting. The door of Opportunities from Education has blown wide open. This “feeder” of educational resources and commerce/trade opportunities will inevitable be readily available to ALL Africans. A better life for all!
July 30, 2009 at 9:42 am
While this is an improvement for communications between CERTAIN SEGMENTS of African countries with the rest of the world, we should not lose sight of the fact that many Africans have yet to have consistent electricity established in their areas, many have not received an education past their primary school years and that basic infrastructure in many African countries, including basic landline systems for communications remain horribly inadequate. (try getting a good landline connection to Kenya or Uganda)
While efforts like this is good, let’s not put the cart before the horse. Africa needs much improvement in its basic infrastructure before it can make the best use out of all these frills.
AS ONE, debbie
July 30, 2009 at 6:12 pm
How Amazing first; the first black president now this, So happy for Africa! YOu rock you deserve this now I can keep in touch with my friends faster and more often
August 4, 2009 at 8:44 am
It is fantastic news and necessary if Africa is to become an economically sustainable continent one day. However, I believe that Google is making great efforts to provide better search facilities through mobile phones, mobile phones are HUGE in Africa and should not be neglected. They remain the most effective and biggest means of communication, even if signal and service providers are fragmented in some countries.