Main One Cable: Big Boost For West African Broadband

"UPDATE 1-Undersea cable set to boost West Africa broadband"
Reuters Africa (July 2, 2010)

"An eagerly-awaited submarine cable linking West Africa to Europe has gone live, paving the way for cheaper and more reliable internet access in one of the world's fastest-growing telecoms markets, its operators said on Friday.

"The 7,000 km (4,350 mile) fibre optic Main One Cable runs from Portugal to Nigeria and Ghana, and also branches out to Morocco, the Canary Islands, Senegal and Ivory Coast.

"The Main One Cable Company says it delivers more than ten times the broadband capacity of the South Atlantic Terminal (SAT-3), Nigeria's sole existing undersea cable, and 20 times the entire satellite capacity of sub-Saharan Africa...."

The company setting up the cable says that Main One's cable will affect Nigeria's education, health, and entertainment industries. And help create jobs across Africa. They could be right.

I rather hope they are: Nigeria's one of Africa's up-and-coming countries, with resources and people to manage them. These days, it takes a good communications network to run a business - which the new cable should help to create.

Isn't the Lemming Apathetic?

The Lemming's written about that before. I'm "apathetic" only in the sense that I don't care - intensely, irrationally - about the 'proper' things.

My interest in Nigeria and other places around the world is partly self-centered. I live on the same planet, and what happens anywhere tends to affect people everywhere - however indirectly.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "African Art, Photos, and a Whacking Great Generalization"
  (June 21, 2010)
• "Kenyan Music: There's More to It Than You May Think"
  (January 27, 2010)
• "Caution! Cut Cables Cause Communication Catastrophe!"
  (February 2, 2008)
• "Internet Cables Cut, Outages From Egypt to Bangladesh"
  (January 31, 2008)