Google Internet Cable Lands in Africa, Promising Fast Connection (reuters.com) 17
A subsea cable owned by Google that promises to double internet speeds for millions in Africa arrived in Togo on Friday, the company said, the latest step in a multi-year project to provide cheaper access to users across the continent. From a report: The Equiano cable, the first of its kind to reach Africa, has wound its way from Portugal and will double internet speed for Togo's 8 million residents, Google said in a statement.
That may be a taste of things to come for other countries set to benefit in a region where internet use is rising fast but where networks are often cripplingly slow and are a drag on economic development. The new line will also make land in Nigeria, Namibia and South Africa, with possible branches offering connections to nearby countries. It is expected to start operating by the end of the year.
That may be a taste of things to come for other countries set to benefit in a region where internet use is rising fast but where networks are often cripplingly slow and are a drag on economic development. The new line will also make land in Nigeria, Namibia and South Africa, with possible branches offering connections to nearby countries. It is expected to start operating by the end of the year.
Because the Nigerian Prince... (Score:4, Funny)
...needs fast broadband to do his business, too.
Google Fiber (Score:2)
Sure, Google Fiber had trouble keeping its promises to cities it was going to hook up, but they'll gladly cross the whole ocean instead.
It's a joke, I know last mile in one city is a lot more difficult than running a cable across an entire ocean.
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> I know last mile in one city is a lot more difficult
The ad revenue per dollar invested is actually quite worse.
Google Fiber existed to shame Comiecast to get over 16Mbps. It worked, and Google easily bores of projects, especially ones that can't be used for surveillance and manipulation.
Consumerism coming to a nation near you. (Score:2)
Yup, the kind of economic development, Google, and Amazon can provide. Surprised the Chinese didn't run a cable of their own for...economic development.
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Definitely good for business (Score:2)
Cheaper, but at what cost? (Score:1)
Sure, Google will "provide cheaper access to users across the continent" But hat will come at a very high price for Africa. They will be squeezed dry in paying rent through various ways. The fact that Alphabet is involved in it should be terror for all users who will be affected.
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My first though was Africa as a whole, needs to ban Google search engines before they allow Google fibre onto the continent.
Ring of Fiber? (Score:2)
2 decades ago there was the Africa ONE project. Not sure if that ever went anywhere; probably died along with the many providers that didn't survive the DotCom meltdown
https://www.itweb.co.za/conten... [itweb.co.za]
And then last year was the announcement that BringCom (who?) had completed a pan-African fiber ring that would link back to the UK. Not sure why there & not to a closer EU country.
https://developingtelecoms.com... [developingtelecoms.com]
Faint Praise (Score:2)
...and will double internet speed...in a region where...networks are often cripplingly slow....
So the region will go from cripplingly slow to...what...somewhat less cripplingly slow?
From 1200 baud (Score:2)
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Not the first of its kind (Score:1)
> the first of its kind to reach Africa
What? There are about 11 undersea cables connecting Africa with the reset of the world. Many of these we have had for more than 20 years, with the oldest going back to the early 90's. How is Googles the first of its kind?
Adding more undersea cables won't reduce the cost of bandwidth in Africa, or anywhere. Adding more competition to the local infrastructure market will. I was stuck on a 512 Kbps ADSL line with a 3 GB cap for the same amount as I am currently pa
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Named for Olaudah Equiano, a Nigerian-born writer and abolitionist who was enslaved as a boy, the Equiano cable is state-of-the-art infrastructure based on space-division multiplexing (SDM) technology, with 12 fiber pairs and design capacity of 150Tbps, approximately 20 times more network capacity than the last cable built to serve this region. The SDM technology was first deployed in Google's second private subsea cable, Dunant.