Broadband for East Africa

[nancylebov]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8165077.stm

The fibre-optic cable, operated by African-owned firm Seacom, will connect South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique to Europe and Asia.

The firm says the cable will help to boost the prospects of the region's industry and commerce.

The cable - which is 17,000km long - took two years to lay and cost more than $650m.

Comments

Taking two years to lay

[inertiacrept.livejournal.com]

Tsunamis, terrorism, earthquakes... sharks, maybe. Yes. Sharks. This is a terrible idea.

Re: Taking two years to lay

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Worse than not having broadband?

Sorry if I'm missing a joke.

I should've mentioned pirates

[inertiacrept.livejournal.com]

Oh, you were. I don't actually think sharks are going to destroy a huge underwater fibre optic cable... though I suppose I would note (if I wanted to be difficult) that the conduit that serves the Indian subcontinent has had a few major disruptions because of seismic activity, though the terrorism thing is the sort of red herring that a guy like Dick Cheney can use to justify anything - sure, it's a possibility, if I wanted to attack Africa with cyberwarfare, but that's a pretty steep split between the theoretical and the actual.

[landley.livejournal.com]

So nigeria's about to get competition?