Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

See how the global broadband network has grown rapidly

THE Horn of Africa is one of the last populated bits of the planet without a proper connection to the world wide web. Instead of fibre-optic cable, which provides for cheap phone calls and YouTube-friendly surfing, its 200m or so people have had to rely on satellite links. This has kept international phone calls horribly overpriced and internet access equally extortionate and maddeningly slow.

Technology connects us more and more each day. Who are the most and least connected people in the world?

Last year, important internet cables connecting Europe to Asia were mysteriously severed, resulting in days of outages for millions of internet users. It was a stark reminder that, no matter how instantaneously our information seems to travel, it is, in fact, moving through cables on the bottom of the ocean. And, while the internet might seem like the cutting edge of technology, it's interesting to note that information has been traveling this way since the first telegraph cables were laid across the Atlantic ocean in the 19th century.

One pioneering scheme in Bangladesh has become famous for its "telephone ladies".