Since the advent of optical fiber, We have entered a high-speed Internet era. Now all the countries are building their optic-fiber networks, and it has increasingly high penetration rate.
Recently the Indian government proposed to allocate 260 million rupees ($5.4 million) under the federal budget to set up an optic-fiber cable network exclusively for the defense forces.
Most of the bandwidth to be vacated by the defense forces would be sold during the auction of licenses to start third-generation services, expected later this year.
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The government expects to generate 350 billion rupees from the proposed auction, the budget document for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, showed.
The budget also proposed allocating 140.15 billion rupees for Bharat Sanchar and 17.25 billion rupees for the other state-run telecom operator, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.
The Indian government holds a 56.25% stake in Mahanagar Telephone, which is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.
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But in Africa, many users still can not experience the high-speed network. “You can see, I try to click on the link but it’s not coming fast. It’s quite slow,” the Zambian national complains. “Then I have to purchase more time and it costs me another 25 meticals (about one dollar).”
Mauritius-based company SEACOM promises to revolutionise communications in Africa and lower bandwidth costs by up to 90 percent, after switching on the cable that resulted from a two-year, 600-million-dollar (427-million-euro) effort.
Countries like Kenya and Uganda can now experience broadband connections for the first time, while others like South Africa — which already has high-speed Internet — expect the new cable to lower costs by boosting competition.
But many end users will have to wait to see the benefits.
In fact, many don’t know SEACOM exists.
At the Teledata Internet cafe, employee Zacarias Tovela said SEACOM hadn’t changed web surfing there yet.
Internet Cafe
“I know there’s a new service called SEACOM, but I don’t know if we’re connected to it or not,” he said.
SEACOM spokesman Frederic Cornet said the company sells bandwidth wholesale to local service providers, who until now have relied on slower, costlier satellite connections.
The new cable will also boost telephone service in countries where international calls can be a shout in the dark.
SEACOM says land-based infrastructure is being rolled out in most countries along the coast to distribute the new network to users along the length of the continent.
Meanwhile, ordinary users hope the benefits will start arriving soon.
Orray Carlos, owner of Internet Express cafe in Maputo, laughed as he watched his connection speed bounce anaemically around one megabyte per second. SEACOM promises speeds of 1.2 terabytes per second — one million times faster.
