The sharks that swim in Africa’s troubled telecom waters have swum away from EASSy, the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System. 31 carriers from at least 16 of the 23 countries backing the project are reported to be on the verge of pulling out.

This could all be fun – the cut and thrust of common or garden cable-building – were it not for one thing: this damned project dates back to 2003 in its current form and far longer than that if you look at its antecedents. Presumably these endless delays can be laughed off, in much the same way that delays to a motorway bypass in Western Europe can be laughed off.

Unless you live in the region. Unless you are amongst the poorest and most assaulted and most needful people on the planet. Unless you could really benefit from the sort of services that EASSy was intended to provide (click here).

That’s the trouble with ‘consortium cables’. Once upon a time, somewhere in New Jersey, it must have seemed like a good idea. Now lethargy has set in and spread across Africa like a plague. And blow me if Africa doesn’t have quite enough of those already.
Jim Chalmers