Tunisie Telecom to deploy third submarine cable

12 February 2025

Tunisie Telecom has signed a partnership agreement with Medusa Submarine Cable System for the deployment of a third submarine cable.

1,200km long and with a capacity of 20Tbps, it will connect the city of Bizerte in Tunisia to Marseille in France. The work will begin this year and commissioning is scheduled for 2026. The contract period is 25 years.

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Connectivity Gold for the world’s mega events

11 February 2025

Linda Clark, MD, Mobile Mark Europe

Linda Clark, MD, Mobile Mark Europe

During the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, I saw the essential role antenna infrastructure and technology played in providing reliable connectivity and access for visitors as well as underpinning critical communications. Just as in Africa, the requirement for connectivity in the UK was a challenge that had to be achieved between venues and while users were on the move.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games was attended by 1.3 million people, the overwhelming majority of whom wanted to connect their portable devices to the internet. This is a major challenge to all mega events, where people now expect to have access to fast, reliable communications and transmission capability. How this is achieved often must depend on what systems are already available at a venue and its environs. Options can include Wi-Fi 6 as an enhanced version of the 2.4/5GHz spectrum - 2.4GHz provides the most coverage at slower transmission speed, while 5GHz gives less coverage but higher data transmission speed - to allow multi-user connectivity. Meanwhile, LTE and 5G provide good communications with the capability for expansion via temporary cell sites. There are also Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), widely used in stadia, which facilitate multipleuser, high speed connectivity. The network used is often determined by what is already available and the resources available to pay for access to a network.

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Internet blockages caused US$1.56 billion loss

07 February 2025

In 2024, internet blockades by authorities caused a total loss of US$1.56 billion for sub-Saharan African economies, according to Top10Vpn – down by 10.34% compared to 2023, when it stood at US$1.74 billion.

The economic costs of shutdowns are calculated using the Netblocks Cost of Shutdown Tool, based on the Brookings Institution methodology with a specialized model used for sub-Saharan Africa. Losses are estimated based on each region’s digital GDP, the duration of the outages, and the number of internet users affected. Data comes from reliable sources such as the World Bank and governments. Social platform restrictions, while specific, are assessed based on the total number of internet users in a region, as they disrupt access for everyone, regardless of active use of the blocked platforms.


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Burkina Faso and Niger to gain from Emergency Telecommunications Cluster project

07 February 2025

The Luxembourg government, through the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) project, is tackling the information and technology gap in Africa’s Sahel region by providing critical digital services, training opportunities, and resources to over 3,650 users, with a focus on host communities, refugees, and youth aged 18-34.

Burkina Faso and Niger are the first to benefit from the ETC project.
ETC is a global network of organisations that work together to provide shared communications services in humanitarian emergencies. The network, with the support of Luxembourg, will work to close the information and technology gaps faced by communities in the region by providing tailored ICT services that will allow them to gain access to lifesaving information, connect to the world, and develop their digital skills.


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