Thank you Mark for your excellent firsthand account. I’ve observed this - the developing world (better? Same meaning but hey) does not miss copper infrastructure. That was always bad and was always going to be bad now that 4G is here. There’s just zero reason now. It’s an anchor.
-Ben > On May 29, 2018, at 10:19 PM, Mark Tinka <mark.ti...@seacom.mu> wrote: > > > >> On 29/May/18 20:01, Eric Kuhnke wrote: >> >> The one thing that you CAN generalize about a great many developing nation >> telecom markets, which is different than the US and Western Europe: >> >> Many urban locations have a complete absence of functioning last mile, >> legacy copper telecom infrastructure, which in a US city you would see used >> for ADSL2+ or VDSL2 or g.fast on old POTS phone lines, or >> DOCSIS3.0/DOCSIS3.1 on 75 ohm coaxial cable TV plant. Leaving "4G" and >> various forms of fixed point to multipoint wireless, whether LTE based or >> not, as the only viable residential and SMB broadband service option. > > And this is a bad thing, because? > > Just because it is done differently doesn't mean it is any less > effective. Mobile phones have significantly overtaken all other forms of > physical infrastructure in most of Africa, and the amount of data being > generated as well as the growing rate of penetration is some of the > highest in the world. > > MNO's have taken slightly different approaches to how they build and > scale for Africa (and other developing continents such as Asia) than > they have for other regions of the world where physical infrastructure > is more rife. > > Personally, I'm glad that the remaining bits of copper plant in Africa > are losing steam as folk jump straight into 3G/4G and fibre in Africa. > Coax was never really a hit in Africa (I know it was in Mozambique), but > glad we don't have to deal with that legacy either. > > I am fortunate enough to live in a city where 4G/LTE is available, with > a reasonably-priced 100Mbps FTTH service to my house, as do many others > that live in major African cities where private companies are not > sitting around waiting for the gubbermint to catch up. Is there a lot > more that can and should be done? For sure! But things are happening... > > Mark.
