Africa - Offline And Waiting for the Web 253
The nytfeed provides us with an article about the current state of internet connectivity on the African continent. Only 4 percent of Africa's population has regular access to the internet, with most of those people living in North African countries, or the country of South Africa. This might seem like a market ripe for development, but the article explains that there are numerous difficulties involved getting an infrastructure project off the ground. "Africa's only connection to the network of computers and fiber optic cables that are the Internet's backbone is a $600 million undersea cable running from Portugal down the west coast of Africa. Built in 2002, the cable was supposed to provide cheaper and faster Web access, but so far that has not happened. Prices remain high because the national telecommunications linked to the cable maintain a monopoly over access, squeezing out potential competitors. And plans for a fiber optic cable along the East African coast have stalled over similar access issues. Most countries in Eastern Africa, like Rwanda, depend on slower satellite technology for Internet service." The good news is that, of course, progress is being made. Just ... slowly.
Not africa's biggest problem (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd say that Social, Political, and Agricultural reforms are FAR more important to the average African than the good old WWW.
Africa is living proof that imposition of a foreign structure and hierarchy followed by throwing fists-full of aid money is not enough to improve the lives of a people.
Re:Not africa's biggest problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Damn, I must be going blind, because I don't see anywhere in the comment where he said anything about aid being used for the SAT3 fiber cable. I think he was talking about how billions in aid money haven't helped much in social, political, and agricultural reforms.
That's arguable, as is the importance of Internet access to Africa. I mean, after all, India is one of the most bitterly poor countries in the world, but their technical infrastructure has improved the lives of many people there and is bringin
Re: (Score:2)
Diamonds? De Beers owns most African diamond mines.
Copper? Zimbabwe sold off its copper mines recently because they were losing money. The price of copper has quadrupled in the last ten years. (And people are emigrating to Zimbabwe...)
Oil? Foreign companies own most African oil wells and pipelines. In some countries, these oil companies hire the military to defend the pipelines and wells. In some of these, the military has stolen the pipeli
Re: (Score:2)
Nope. A large number of aid workers, and an even larger number of corrupt officials would be out of business. For the rest it would probably be business as usual.
You are under the mistaken belief that aid goes to the poor. Nope. It goes to the corrupt - it is what feeds corruption and incompetent governments. Get rid of aid, and Africa would be booming.
African countires are not
Re:Not africa's biggest problem (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd say that Social, Political, and Agricultural reforms are FAR more important to the average African than the good old WWW.
Africa is living proof that imposition of a foreign structure and hierarchy followed by throwing fists-full of aid money is not enough to improve the lives of a people.
Interesting viewpoint. A few points immediately sprang to mind though:
Firstly, access to better information via the internet can play its part in improving social, political and agricultural conditions in Africa.
Granted, there are other problems, such as infrastructure, to overcome but that doesn't negate the benefits that internet connectivity could provide to developing world nations.
Secondly, the "imposition of a foreign structure and hierarchy followed by throwing fists-full of aid money" can work... in the right circumstances. West Germany after the Second World War is one example. Clearly today's Iraq isn't though.
The keys would seem to be honesty and acceptance: if you genuinely care about improving the situation on the ground and can convince people of your sincerity then you can make huge changes for the better. However, if your help is poisoned by political or economic rhetoric then you're doomed to failure and/or accusations of attempting to profit from the situation.
Forcing HIV/AIDs-related programmes to teach abstinence rather than educating them about the benefits of using a condom, even though you know that the abstinence message will fail but that condoms will save lives, because of religious pressure is crazy.
Similarly, pushing African mothers to use powdered baby milk rather than encouraging them to breastfeed, which is a healthier option, just to sell more of your product is exploitative at best.
Put another way, if developed nations really wants to help less fortunate nations then perhaps thinking about themselves and what's in it for them should disappear from the equation.
Lastly, Africa is a pretty big place. It's not homogenous, and what might be a problem in one place might have already been solved somewhere else. Anything that helps disseminate knowledge can only be a good thing, especially in rural areas.
Imagine how much and how quickly you can find help online when your PC's playing up compared to how little and how slowly you can find it offline. Now imagine that information on something more essential to your everyday life, like basic healthcare advice, how to repair a vital piece of machinery, or how to save a crop.
Even something as simple as knowing what the average shopper 10,000 miles away will pay for your produce could make a huge difference: knowing that might help you secure a fairer, more beneficial price for your harvest, which in turn could dramatically improve the standard of life for you and everybody around you.
The possibilities are limitless.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd say that Social, Political, and Agricultural reforms are FAR more important to the average African than the good old WWW.
I do not mean to minimize any of the problems Africa faces. However, I think the printing press has had fair amount of success in effecting political and social change throughout history; how much more with its modern analogue when the cost of production approaches nil and the ability to post (for example) video of abuses i
Re: (Score:2)
That's about what messed it up in the first place, except the money was thrown a different direction.
Re: (Score:2)
I work in Africa (Score:2, Interesting)
I expected the worst when I got here, and I wasn't dissapointed. Everything they say in the article about lack of satellite capacity and high costs of SAT-3 is true. We're just about to pay a company $1MM Euros/yr. for 6Mb of bandwidth out of here - compare that to your home DSL line. The in-country infrastructure is a
Mod Parent +insightful (Score:2)
Do you think that the connectivity problems are feasibly solvable with the seemingly rampant culture of bribery and graft in many of the countries? It seems like there is a huge Chicken/Egg problem with respect to infrastructure and reforms going on.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
RRRIGGHTTT..... they can't even grow enough food to feed themselfs so now you want them to export it?
Re:Not africa's biggest problem (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not africa's biggest problem (Score:4, Interesting)
This is not necessarily just about selling over the Internet, and it should be clear by now that I see Internet access as part of the larger problem of communications infrastructure, however I believe there are numerous examples throughout the world where Internet access has provided significant economic benefits. If it were otherwise, why would the Internet have spread throughout the world?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
However, I'm betting there is a coop of some sorts that help with the warehousing of the coffee. In this situation, you can sort of bet at least someone involved has things somewhat arranged in so that they find the current prices and have some form of communications.
The internet is no immediate help to farmers that cannot be dealt with already. Or at least that is my impression to date. And I think this is
this farmer disagrees (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
As for looking for repair parts, I have an account with the local Napa store. I get somewhat of a discount plus the tax exempt and I know the part I get is good and going to last. I have seen people use cheap parts which is OK if you don't depend on the machine or vehicle. Sometimes you get a deal and sometimes you have to replace them quite ofte
Re: (Score:2)
So much has changed in the last 20 or 30 years in farming in the US that I can understand a learning curve after being away for a short time. I also understand that you ar
Re: (Score:2)
And a computer with the internet would fix that how? You would be doing a better service putting the telecomunications in first. Maybe at the same time. There are satellite phones already in use over there and there are cell towers going up all over the place last I heard.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Cart before horse. (Score:2)
If you're in a massively co
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyways, it isn't limited to the internet. I started getting phone calls that would ring once or twice and then hang up. The numbers were my own Cell Phone number with a Nigerian country and area code in front of it. I didn't find this out until after I got a letter from the government.
I had freaked out and called my cell provider and they claim they didn't even have a record of me getting a call at the times it was on the phone and then said so
Re:Not africa's biggest problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Makes a bit of a barrier to getting a healthy internet economy, no?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Rejoice! (Score:5, Funny)
Fortunately (Score:3, Funny)
Bigger picture... (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The same dictators supported by the West?
'The West' (America, England, France etc) have supported, propped up, or installed dictators in numerous countries on the African continent at some point or another within the last 20 years.
Dictators were the West's way of keeping a lid on various fractured populaces for the purposes of maintaining stability, usually so western powers could continue exploiting the resourc
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
The original post, however, is still historically a wreck. The West has only been relatively "hands-off" since the late 1980's. It's 500 years before that have been the problem, not the past 20 years.
Re: (Score:2)
The figure for Ethiopia is 1.5 million (and is better termed a democide than a genocide.) The casualties of the pre-Derg, Halie Selassie era famine were higher. While you are right to note that the USSR did back a regime (against its own allies, mind you, the Somalians, who were actively
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I distrust these crude moral polarities. Why are some famines called the responsibilities of the dictators, while others (such as those during the Raj) just acts of God? I recommend the book "Late Victorian Holocausts" as a point of reference.
Re: (Score:2)
You make a valid point.
However, I took the behavior of those countries for granted, considering they both have strong central governments... thus there is no inherent contradiction with their foreign policy.
Western countries have been in the dictatorship business for centuries. The Enlightenment Period (1700s) was no such thing when it came to their foreign policy.
Re: (Score:2)
It's only a recent phenomenon that spreading Democracy has been considered a better idea than installing a strong dictator to hold things together. Despite that ideal, look at how many dictatorships Clinton and Bush Jr have been buddy buddy with.
I don't think that the 'Spreading Democracy!' meme Bush and
Re:Bigger picture... (Score:4, Insightful)
The treatment Hamas has recieved from the EU & US clearly demonstrates what western leaders think about the spread of democracy. They don't mearly fail to recognise "the right of Hamas to exist" they actively seek to destroy it, the US has recently gone so far as to arm and train Fatah militants in order to maintain the status quo via the good ol' divide and conquer routine.
The odd thing is that Hamas has kept it's word and has not used suicide bombers for over 3 years (yes, they stopped BEFORE they were elected by ~70% of the popular vote), this self-imposed "restraint" is despite the fact many of it's elected officials have been assasinated or kidnapped by Isreal during the last 3yrs. Even more curioius is the fact that the suicide bombers during that time have come from the Fatah group, the same group that the US have recently armed and trained to fight Hamas.
Just to remain on topic you can see the same strategy in Africa, during the 70's-80's the SLA were considered an "evil" in the heart of Africa, apparently now that China has control over Sudan's oil,
Of course the prime example of hypocricy in our time is the fact that - 25yrs ago OBL & Saddam were both "good guys" fighting the commies with our "generous" financial and political support. I could rant forever with similar examples, $2B worth of attack choppers donated to Burma's nut-job rulers in '97 anyone?
Disclaimer: None of this makes "the other side's" actions any better, but if anyone thinks I have my facts about Hamas all fucked up, read this [theage.com.au], and double check the information for yourself.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, because Hamas has been behaving [debka.com] in a really calm, rational, and democratic way recently.
Re: (Score:2)
You forgot rockets against civilians... (Score:2)
Hamas use rockets to target civilians, which is active terrorism.
Hamas use antisemitic propaganda -- for instance, The Protocols of Zion [wikipedia.org] which was a large inspiration for Mein Kampf (which sells well in the Arab World, by the way).
When some Austrian nuts was in the government, Austria were isolated. Even that party would never have thought of using Nazi-inspired antisemitic propaganda.
Let us see... A country in the EU was isolated (wi
About South-Africa, Internet Boom (Score:3, Interesting)
Infrastructure? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
building and maintaining infrastructure demands a reasonably stable society and a healthy local economy.
otherwise "big plans" lead nowhere. case in point: Iraq.
Re:Infrastructure? (Score:4, Informative)
How about the power infrastructure? (Score:2)
* Electric infrastructure systems research [nrel.gov] (publications) from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
* Electric Power Research Institute [epri.com] re: a distributed network.
* Electric power transmission [wikipedia.org]
* Hydrogen power wiki [h2-pv.us] (questionable) * [pdf] Present limits of high-voltage transmission [geni.org]
* Power station diagram [tva.gov] (and more [tepco.co.jp])
* Energy development [wikipedia.org] as well as * "The SuperGrid for Electricity & Hydrogen [typepad.com]"- but no designs are included.
And with DIY wind turbine [instructables.com] and the DIY UP [slashdot.org]
market ripe for development? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:market ripe for development? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would anyone in Africa want that? High speed internet -- who needs it! Someone might make some money by providing it to people. Money! They should work for love! They should make fiber optic cables out of their own altruism and power the routers with the self-satisfaction they get from doing good.
What evil thing will those exploiters do next? Commercially exploit hunger by selling good, healthy food at a small profit? Better to starve than allow such exploitation!
Re: (Score:2)
Exploit hunger? it happens every day. Remember the UN's 'food for weapons' programs? Thats a good example of international exploitation.
Re: (Score:2)
That's the commercial relationship I have with people and corporations, including my employer. Should I feel commercially exploited by them? Should I co
Re: (Score:2)
Don't you want YouTube? (Score:2, Troll)
-A Nigerian Prince
Typical cost - for those who might not know (Score:5, Informative)
A bit off-topic here: I also got educated in a way...that is...I realized that it is actually hotter in USA (Texas) than in some of these African countries that we think are way too hot. Temperatures never went above 86 degrees F, in the capital (Kampala)...compared to the 113 degrees in some parts of the US lately.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Irony? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
If we could do it not so long ago, so can they.
Re: (Score:2)
Finally I understand why all those "Last longer.." e-mails are sent from Africa!
The Internet May Not Be a Top Priority, (Score:3, Interesting)
waste of time and money (Score:2)
the internet affords them nothing tangible, which is what they need.
Re: (Score:2)
I have heard a few times about Africa, and when you really think of the people there as PEOPLE, not some type of robot, it makes more sense.
OLPC, anyone? (Score:3, Insightful)
The fact that children in Africa are accessing porn is a good sign. It's f*cking AMAZING! Why? Because that means that for the first time these children are reaching out and interacting with websites and other people across the globe. If they are connected, then can receive information and they can SEND information.
Africa has huge issues with corruption. Africa has huge issues with genocide, rape, tribal warfare, dictatorships... and the list goes on. But the really great thing about technology is that while it can enable people to have guns and bullets and other tools of war, it can also give them cell phones and tiny laptops.
If more and more villages in Africa have access to technology that is not dependent upon the grid for power or for an internet connection (solar or manual power, satellite or some kind of ad-hoc network for Internet access), then that will enable communities to unite, it will enable people to be educated about relevant health, political, and social issues, and it will (hopefully) enable groups of spread-out people to push through reform of governments and pave the way for new infrastructure.
If you see a homeless person on the street, giving them a few cents might help them for a day, but the best thing you could do for them is to help them find the right path for them to take to earn money and become a contributing member of society.
There are a number of possible ways that we in the Western world could help starving children in Africa. The best way for us to help people in 3rd world countries is to give the individual people tools which enable them to organize their communities, reform their governments and companies, and build up their countries from the inside out. A generation of children communicating through small, portable, rugged computers seems like an excellent tool to jumpstart the organize-reform-build process.
And then when they are a first-world country they can have spiffy fiber-to-the-premises broadband for all, just like we do in America. Oh wait.
Hmmm... perhaps we need to start encouraging OUR kids to do some social/political reform as well!
Re: (Score:2)
*snicker* Sorry, I realise you're not advocating this at all, but a selective quotation of your post makes it sound like you're excited about Africans achieving financial independance as producers of child porn. Good luck with that political career
The concept of thought crime. (Score:2)
Colonialism? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Or, perhaps... (Score:2)
Wireless for Africa: The only way forward (Score:2)
Development Happens in Order (Score:4, Informative)
It's true service is slower and more expensive but in the capitals and in major cities there is more than enough to go around. In Benin there is dial up service for about $15 per month plus the cost of the phone call, ADSL service in the capital for about $75 a month for 256/128, and if that's not good enough you can pay more (up to $200/month) for greater bandwidth. It's more expensive than I'd like and the service is occasionally down for service, not to mention phone line trouble, saturated networks, and so on, but that's another story. The point is, I've got Internet in the capital (Cotonou, if you care) and it's essentially satisfactory. Inland in places like Burkina Faso and Mali they've got internet connections as well, but they are more expensive and the bandwidth isn't as good, since the network goes through the coastal nations - Ghana, Togo, and Benin. The big agencies - UN, embassies, major companies working in the region - also have available satellite internet at much higher prices.
Lack of infrastructure is not the problem. Lack of a market willing to pay for the service that demands that infrastructure is, and as the market develops the infrastructure will suddenly seem like a worthwhile investment. You don't get Africans connected by building a bunch of equipment and hoping they show up. The second factor is regulation, which is clearly an area where African governments have some growing to do. To build a telecommunications sector (and make no mistake about it, if you put in cable and connections you're building the sector) you need effective government regulation. Unfortunately that has to happen from within, and no multinational company can effectively impose good government (and thus good government oversight) on a nation. The article's story about Kigali is a perfect example of this point.
In the meantime, where's the scandal? I have friends and colleagues who live in small villages inland, not in the capital. Every one of them has a hotmail/yahoo.fr/gmail account, and when they need to use the Internet they go to a cybercafe for a quick hour or two. That fits their budget and works well.
If you want to connect Africa, help educate the people so they can improve their own economic situation. They will form the basis for a stronger economic market for these services, and the system will be sustainable. Impose on these growing countries the infrastructure before they are ready to sustain it and you will just perpetuate the development myth.
Before leaving this post, I highly recommend you read White Man's Burden by William Easterly, if the idea of development interests you. After 40 years of investing in growing countries we know a lot more about it than before, and there are many lessons to be learned.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
What Good It Is (Score:2)
Less than 60% of Africans are literate.
20% of Africans don't have electricity and that number is increasing by almost 10% per year. That is, they're losing it, not getting it.
Less than 1% of Africans have land line phones. Less than 10% have cell phones, and coverage is spotty, unreliable and low rate.
Africa is waiting for the web like dolphins are waiting for a subway.
The peop
OLPC? (Score:2)
The nytfeed provides us with an article about the current state of internet connectivity on the African continent. Only 4 percent of Africa's population has regular access to the internet, with most of those people living in North African countries, or the country of South Africa. This might seem like a market ripe for development, but the article explains that there are numerous difficulties involved getting an infrastructure project off the ground.
But, didn't we just send a bunch of internet-enabled laptops there?
SA Connected ... (Score:2)
... It may well be, but it doesn't have the bandwidth. I'm from the UK and essentially work for the EMEA region of my employer as a consultant, which has resulted in my last 3 trips being 2 to SA and one to Israel. While there may well be internet in these countries, the bandwidth just isn't there, to the point where Yahoo mail breaks, and facebook, my VPN, Google mail, and I really wouldn't try to watch anything on YouTube.
So, it may be great to get everyone connected, but they will be on a different tie
Worse Broadband Than Australia? (Score:2)
Oddly enough their deep well of pain and suffering is due to exactly the same problems we are struggling with here in Down Under land.
the cable was supposed to provide cheaper and faster Web access, but so far that has not happened. Prices remain high because the national telecommunications linked to the cable maintain a monopoly over access, squeezing out potential competitors.
No surprises there.
Been There, Done That.
Still have the scars to prove it.
Still hoping one day we'll have a government interest in waking our country up from THIS NEVERENDING NIGHTMARE.
Re:Out of Africa... (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
...and you're bigoted against them all.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I would imagine laying oceanic cable even all the way to AU would be a heck of a lot easier than trying to trench it through africa, for a variety of reasons.
Anyone care to beat my laziness and dig up some numbers on just how many cables run to AU? I betcha there's a bunch. I have no problem video chatting with several of my friends there, an
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Granted, but it seems reasonable to wait until there is a significant drop in the amount of killings or the chances of being killed
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
http://www.google.com/trends?q=error [google.com]
http://www.google.com/trends?q=police+state [google.com]
http://www.google.com/trends?q=nuts [google.com]