African Undersea Cables – Map

In the spirit of the previous post consolidating information on African undersea cables, I compiled the image at the right to create a consolidated picture of existing and future cable initiatives around the continent. The relative cable sizes are roughly to scale according to the advertised capacity of the cables. There is certainly a contrast [...] [...]

Connected Cities: The Rebirth of Geography

As Mark Twain once said, “reports of my death were great exaggerated”. This could be very aptly applied to the optimistic perception that the Internet and cheap telecommunications meant that it didn’t matter where you were, the so-called “death of geography”. The future was in telework and invisible global supply chains. While there is truth [...] [...]

ICASA: Death by Bureaucracy

“…broadband thrives on a mix of competition and active regulation, to ensure an open context.” This succinct summation comes from an Economist article from a couple of weeks ago entitled “Open up those highways“. Contrast this with news yesterday that ICASA are apparently deliberately privileging incumbent telcos (Telkom, Vodacom, and MTN) by creating a two [...] [...]