Saturday, December 1, 2007

East African underwater fiber-optic cable

On Monday, an IFC-led consortium announced the signing of loan agreements to build a new fiber optic cable along the eastern coast of Africa.

This is terrific news. Let's just hope they actually start it in mid-December, as planned. According to an article from Red Herring, construction had originally been scheduled to start in 2006.

The Red Herring article also mentions what I've heard a number of expats in Liberia say- that there *is* already a submarine fiber optic cable along Africa's western coast but that "Liberia doesn't have access." I don't have the full story yet, but it seems as though those who control the cable haven't done enough to improve sub-Saharan Internet access. For example, the cable "lands" at neither Freetown nor Monrovia.

More to come on this as I start digging around...

1 comments:

M said...

Hi there,

I am glad I found your blog through Amanda's. This way I can read up on the world outside of Liberia and you will know what is going in West Africa. We are arapya.blogspot.com. Enjoy civilization!
Marina & Michael