Mateusz Kaczmarek, Author at TechStock²

Benin’s Internet Revolution: How a Small Nation Is Bridging the Digital Divide with Fiber and Starlink

A 2,000 km national fiber optic backbone begun in 2016 was completed by mid-2021 and is being extended to all municipalities by 2025 under a CFA207 billion (~$330 million) plan to reach 3,300 km. Benin sits on multiple landing undersea cables such as ACE and MainOne for international bandwidth, but it still has only 1 Internet Exchange Point and 1 data center, with roughly 5% of popular web content cached domestically. Mobile networks dominate access, with 4G LTE coverage reaching about 90–93% of the population in 2023, 2G at 98%, 3G around 90%, and fewer than 1% of people having

1 June 2025

Belize’s Internet Access Exposed: The Untold Story of 2025’s Digital Boom and Hidden Hurdles

Belize had about 304,000 online residents in 2025, representing 72.4% of the population. There were 345,000 active mobile connections in early 2025, about 82% of the population, with many users owning multiple SIMs. Approximately 84.5% of mobile subscriptions are broadband (3G/4G/LTE capable). In urban Belize, the median home broadband speed reached about 48 Mbps as of January 2025, up roughly 8% from the prior year. About 47% of the population lives in urban areas, while 53% is rural, with rural regions still lagging in high-speed access. Digi (BTL) provides a nationwide fiber-to-the-home network with speeds from 20 Mbps to 150

1 June 2025

2025 · Belize · Digital Divide · Internet · NASDAQ:VSAT · Technology

Belgium’s Broadband Boom: The Surprising Truth About Internet Access in 2025

As of early 2025, fiber coverage reached about 43% of Belgian homes, with Proximus aiming for 50% by end-2025, 70% by 2028, and 95% by 2032. Proximus FTTH/B offers symmetric speeds up to 8.5 Gbps in some areas as part of its fibre expansion. Proximus formed joint ventures Fiberklaar (Flanders) and Unifiber (Wallonia) to accelerate FTTH rollout, targeting 1.5 million and 0.6 million connections respectively by 2028. Cable broadband uses DOCSIS 3.1, with about 95.6% of households passed and 95.4% already on DOCSIS 3.1 gigabit networks, and Telenet offering up to 1 Gbps down. 5G rollout had 75% population coverage

1 June 2025

2025 · Belgium · Broadband · Internet · NYSE:ORAN · Technology

The Real State of Internet in Belarus: Wired, Wireless, and Watching from the Sky

By the end of 2022, 89.5% of Belarusians were online, with about 8.27 million internet users and 86.9% penetration recorded by early 2023. Beltelecom reported about 2.9 million GPON fiber subscribers by the end of 2022, a figure that reached roughly 3 million by mid-2024. Approximately 82.4% of small settlements with 50–100 inhabitants have access to fiber-optic broadband. As of April 2024, 4G LTE coverage reached 93% of Belarus’s territory and 99% of its population via the beCloud network. MTS Belarus had around 5.7 million mobile subscribers, A1 about 4.8 million, and life:) about 1.5 million as of 2024. There

1 June 2025

Belarus · Connectivity · Digital Trends · Internet · Technology

The Digital Wave: Uncovering Internet Access and Satellite Connectivity in Barbados

As of early 2025, internet penetration in Barbados stood at about 80% (roughly 226,000 users), down from 85.8% in January 2023 (about 241,800 users). In 2023 Barbados had 332,900 mobile connections, equivalent to about 118% penetration. Flow and Digicel remain the duopoly in Barbados as of 2025, with the government licensing KW Telecommunications (KW Telecom) as a third operator in late 2023 to spur competition and potential 5G entry. Flow Barbados launched a 100% Fibre-to-the-Home network by the mid-2010s, offering Flow Fibre plans up to 1 Gbps. The Antilles Crossing submarine cable, built in the 2000s and later part of

31 May 2025

Barbados · Digital Transformation · Internet Access · Satellite Connectivity · Tech Trends

Wi-Fi, Wires & the Sky: The Full Picture of Internet Access in Bangladesh

As of December 2023, Bangladesh had about 131 million internet subscriptions: 118.5 million mobile and 12.9 million fixed broadband. By early 2025, an estimated 77–78 million people were online, roughly 44–45% of the population. End of 2023, Grameenphone (GP) had 82.20 million, Robi Axiata 58.67 million, Banglalink 43.48 million, and Teletalk 6.46 million mobile subscriptions, totaling about 190 million. Mid-2023 Bangladesh had about 153,400 km of fiber optic cable (≈80,600 km overhead and 72,800 km underground), with a 2022 plan to add 3,144 km of underground fiber and reach 100 Gbps per upazila by 2024. The SEA-ME-WE submarine cables connect

31 May 2025

Bangladesh · Connectivity Solutions · Internet Access · NASDAQ:VEON · Technology · Wi-Fi

Bahrain’s Internet Secrets Revealed: What They Don’t Tell You About Your Connection

By mid-2024, about 60% of Bahraini households had fiber-optic internet via the wholesale operator BNET, with roughly 171,000 fiber subscriptions in Q2 2024 and top plans up to 2 Gbps. Batelco, STC Bahrain, and Zain have launched 5G with over 98% population coverage, and the median mobile download speed was about 119 Mbps in early 2024. Fixed-line penetration was around 13–14% in 2023, with about 261,000 fixed phone lines in operation, and the median fixed broadband speed was about 80.8 Mbps in early 2024. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) regulates the market, promotes competition, and oversees the separation of Batelco’s

31 May 2025

Connectivity · Consumer Awareness · Digital Secrets · Internet in Bahrain · Technology

Internet Access in The Bahamas

As of January 2024, 390,800 Bahamians were internet users, representing about 94.4% of the population. Fixed broadband adoption is only about 24% nationwide, with many Bahamians relying on mobile data for online access. The Bahamas spans roughly 700 islands with about 30 inhabited, creating significant challenges for universal fixed-network coverage. Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) offers fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) with speeds up to 1 Gbps, including mid-tier plans around 150–350 Mbps priced from roughly $70–$85 per month. Cable Bahamas (REV) provides fiber/broadband via a hybrid network, with ALIV Fibr delivering fiber speeds up to 1 Gbps in select areas and standalone 100

31 May 2025

Broadband · Connectivity · Digital Development · Internet Access · NYSE:REV · The Bahamas

State of Internet Access in Azerbaijan: From Fiber to the Final Frontier

The first internet connection in Azerbaijan was established in 1994, with public access available by 1996. By 2010, there were an estimated 3.7 million internet users, about 44% of the population. In 2009 Azerbaijan issued a third GSM operator license as 3G services were introduced. Delta Telecom has historically owned the sole Internet Exchange Point and the international gateway, supplying 90–95% of the country’s international bandwidth in the late 2000s. By 2022 Azerbaijan’s total international internet bandwidth reached about 2.2 terabits per second, up from 155 Mbps in 2006, aided by new fiber links to Russia, Georgia, and Turkey. As

31 May 2025

Azerbaijan · Digital Infrastructure · Fiber Optics · Internet Access · Technology Trends

Austria’s Digital Autobahn: The State of Internet Access in 2025 (Including Satellite!)

As of 2025, only about 17% of Austria’s available fiber connections are in use, equating to 317,000 active fiber subscriptions from roughly 1.9 million homes passed. Vienna alone has over 750,000 fiber-ready connections, illustrating dense urban fiber capacity. In 2025, A1 Telekom Austria accounts for about 30–31% of fixed broadband subscriptions, Magenta Telekom roughly 29%, and Drei/Tele2 about 17%, forming Austria’s three major broadband players. 4G coverage reaches about 99% of the population, and 5G coverage reached 85% by 2023 with a goal of nationwide 5G by the end of 2025. Starlink became available in Austria around 2021–2022, delivering typically

31 May 2025

Austria · Digital Infrastructure · Future Technology · Internet Access · NYSE:DTE · Satellite Internet

Blazing Broadband in Paradise: Inside Antigua & Barbuda’s Internet Revolution

Antigua and Barbuda has a population just under 95,000 and about 91% of Antiguans were online by early 2024. The fiber-to-the-home rollout was completed in 2022, with APUA’s fiber network delivering up to 500 Mbps and basic fiber prices cut from XCD 335 for 20 Mbps DSL to under XCD 100. The market is dominated by three ISPs—APUA Inet, Digicel, and Flow—with APUA controlling about 64% of broadband connections. As of mid-2024, commercial 5G had not launched, but 4G remains strong and networks are being upgraded across the islands. Starlink was slated to roll out by end of 2024 and

30 May 2025

Antigua & Barbuda · Broadband · Connectivity · Digital Revolution · Internet Access · NASDAQ:LILA

State of Internet Access in Armenia: From Fiber to the Final Frontier

Armenia ended ArmenTel’s monopoly around 2005–2007, opening Armenia’s internet market to new ISPs and mobile operators. In 2013, Armenia removed the licensing regime for ISPs, allowing any company to provide internet after notifying the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC). By 2022, more than 200 ISPs were officially registered in Armenia. In 2020, Armenia scored 88.5 out of 100 on the ITU ICT Regulatory Tracker, placing it in the advanced “fourth generation” regulation category. As of 2023, about 77% of Armenia’s population uses the internet. By 2021, 100% of Armenia’s settlements had 4G/LTE coverage. Fiber accounts for over 83% of fixed

30 May 2025

Armenia · Connectivity Challenges · Fiber Optics · Internet Access · NASDAQ:VEON · Satellite Internet