We live in a great country.  It is easy to take our easy access to the internet for granted.  We complain when our internet connection “goes down” for a short time or when we can't get our wireless working at someone's house.  And when the wireless doesn't work, that means we actually have to plug in to a wire and sit in one place!  That is so terrible!  But as we are complaining about these silly issues there are people in countries in Africa who would just love to be able to afford to get online.  Most people can not afford it yet as the costs are just too high.

There have been many attempts to help bring Africa up to speed but it seems more important issues like hunger and AIDS take priority.  The Rwandan government has made some aggressive moves to help their country have more access to the internet and lower the cost.  And while they have made progress, it is not what they had hoped…

Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on the continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa’s population is connected to the Web; most subscribers are in North African countries and the republic of South Africa.

A lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, communications networks were destroyed during years of civil conflict, and continuing political instability deters governments or companies from investing in new systems. E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States, increasing expenses and delivery times. About 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this way and costs African countries billions of extra dollars each year that they would not incur if their infrastructure was up to speed.

“Most African governments haven’t paid much attention to their infrastructure,” said Vincent Oria, an associate professor of computer science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and a native of the Ivory Coast. “In places where hunger, AIDS and poverty are rampant, they didn’t see it as critical until now.”

Africa’s only connection to the network of computers and fiber optic cables that are the Internet’s backbone is a $600 million undersea cable running from Portugal down the west coast of Africa. Built in 2002, the cable was supposed to provide cheaper and faster Web access, but so far that has not happened.

If you want to read more, you can view the complete Kamaron Institute Job Market article by clicking the following link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/business/yourmoney/22rwanda.html?em&ex=1185422400&en=c53d8a4e648db045&ei=5087%0A

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