Millimetre wave firm restructures
04 September 2020
Cambridge Broadband Networks Group (CBNG) has spun off its African millimetre wave fixed wireless access business after going into administration.
Cambridge Broadband Networks Ltd (CBNL) was established in 2000 when 10 engineers from Cambridge University in the UK secured private equity funding for its millimetre wave (mmWave) communications technology.
The firm raised over £99m for its point to multipoint platform called VectaStar which has been deployed in over 50 countries for mobile backhaul, small cell backhaul, enterprise access and ISP networks at 26GHz and 10.5GHz mmWave bands.
Find out more UFO turns out to be internet balloon
04 September 2020
An unidentified flying object (UFO) parachuted into dense Congo jungle to the confusion of local authorities, until a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet identified the device as an internet balloon.
Images shared on social media showed people inspecting a large silver-coloured contraption fitted with solar panels and wires, which had landed in the tropical forest of Bas-Uele province in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), trailing a large deflated balloon.
Locals told security after the object fell to earth around 1pm local time on Monday 24 August, Bas-Uele Governor Valentin Senga told Reuters after visiting the site around 10 km (6 miles) south of the provincial capital Buta.
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Seacom chief strategy officer Ramdhani quits
04 September 2020
Seacom chief strategy officer Suveer Ramdhani, who has played an integral role in the company since its launch in 2009, has quit his post.
He initially was responsible for the firm’s product development before he assumed his current role as chief strategy officer in 2014. In this role he has been responsible for overseeing Seacom’s strategy, market development, and mergers and acquisition.
This includes the recent acquisition of FibreCo, which has enabled the company to operate a network that links all major South African cities to Seacom’s submarine cables.
Find out more Madagascar tops Africa’s net speeds
04 September 2020
Madagascar has the fastest internet in Africa, according to new research, with its improved average speed of 32.07Mbps placing it 33rd globally and ahead of developed countries like the UK and Australia.
The improvement is due to the underwater Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System that supplies the island’s urban centres with fibre broadband speeds, according to Cable.co.uk.
Madagascar also had Africa’s fastest internet in 2018, when it took the title from east African nation, Kenya.
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