Do mobile phones pollute the environment? Sri Lanka’s Environment Minister Champika Ranawaka thinks so. That was why he wants to impose a so called ‘environment tax’ on mobiles, (in fact all phones, but the above newspaper article focuses on mobiles) at two points, when you purchase it and use it. This is on top of the rest of the tax components the mobile users already have to pay.
No information to that mobile usage is a serious threat to Sri Lanka’s environment. Whatever the little information we possess suggest the opposite. E-waste recycling companies claim the number of mobile phones added to e-waste is negligible. When Dialog Telekom initiated a well publicised effort to collect used mobile phones, they could collect not even 100 – much less…
Mauritius-based private equity venture Seacom has started the construction of a fibre optic cable that will link southern and east Africa with India and Europe.
The $650 million project covers more than 15,000 kilometres to link South Africa to India and France through Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya and Tanzania. It is expected to provide first broadband access to countries in East Africa, which are currently using satellite connections.
In a similar project, NEPAD e-Africa Commission signed a deal with an American firm 5-P Holdings in November 2007 for the construction of an undersea submarine cable to link every country in Africa with the outside world.
This is a joint project between African investors and US telecommunications development company Herakles Telecom. The cable will be ready to…
Tags: Africa, Alcatel-Lucent, broadband access, East Africa, Europe, fibre optic, France, Herakles Telecom, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, satellite connections, South Africa, Tanzania, telecommunications development, United States, USD.
allAfrica.com: East Africa: Countries Agree On EASSy Project Model
It appears that considerable progress is being made on ensuring open access is the norm with the planned submarine cable for eastern Africa.
One hopes that Asian regulators also start paying attention to access issues on the submarine cables that land in their countries.
The change with the EASSy cable did not just happen; it took a lot of effort by regulators and stakeholders.
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