The Coming Battle for Africa’s Internet
[Seneweb] is one of several laying links in what they hope could become as much as 100,000 miles of broadband wiring criss-crossing the world’s second-largest continent like the 21st century version of a transcontinental railway. The connections start with undersea cables and extend onshore towards 3G towers within reception range of the continent’s growing middle class.
That burgeoning bourgeoisie is Africa’s lead variable, and Herlihy ballparks its current mass at 300 million people, each earning between $2,000 and $5,000 yearly – not always enough to keep a router in the living room lit, but certainly enough to pay off a BlackBerry bill. The service they enjoy, smoother than its American equivalent, runs off towers that are newer and more adaptable to data transfers, which is rendering Africa’s telecom transition – from a continent of voice phones to one of pocket PCs – more scalable than expected.
“It’s just happening faster and faster than anybody could have imagined,” Herlihy says.