Subsea Cables from Facebook Are the Last Thing Africa Needs

On Monday, Facebook announced a partnership with Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Africa’s largest fibre company, to develop an “extensive” fibre network stretching over 2,000 kilometres (or 1,243 miles).

According to Liquid, this network is one of the most “extensive” and “difficult” builds the firm has undertaken, requiring the work of at least 5,000 individuals from local communities to establish the network, which will eventually reach from the Atlantic Ocean to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“We know that deploying fibre in this region is not easy, but it is a crucial part of extending broadband access to under-connected areas,” said Ibrahima Ba, who oversees Network Investments in Facebook’s Emerging Markets section “We look forward to seeing how our fibre build will help increase the availability and improve the affordability of high-quality internet in DRC.”

Facebook originally attempted to capture the African market in 2016, when it began rolling out its Free Basics initiative to hundreds of African companies. While early supporters praised the company’s seemingly philanthropic efforts to link the staggering number of disconnected citizens online, that point of view swiftly fell out of favour when people saw how Facebook treated its other “emerging markets.”

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