From video-chatting to working from home, one thing that has kept many people functioning during the coronavirus pandemic is a good internet connection. The online world became part of everyday lives, with ordering, banking, educating or building businesses taking place remotely via computers and smartphones. But in Africa, only four in 10 people have access to the web. Some tech firms see an opportunity and want to develop internet infrastructure across the continent. Facebook and Google are teaming up with telecommunication firms to build cables under the sea in projects which aim to connect the continent to the Middle East and Europe. Facebook’s is called 2AFRICA, and would connect 23 countries with 37,000 kilometres (22,990 miles) of cable – equal almost to the circumference of the entire planet.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA