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NYSE:ORAN News 1 June 2025 - 2 September 2025

Mali’s Internet Revolution: Surprising Facts & Bold Plans for a Digital Future

Mali’s Internet Revolution: Surprising Facts & Bold Plans for a Digital Future

Introduction Mali, a large landlocked nation in West Africa, is undergoing a digital transformation against challenging odds. Internet access has grown from almost zero at the turn of the century to reaching roughly a third of the population today extensia.tech. This expansion is driven primarily by mobile phones, as fixed broadband infrastructure is scarce developingtelecoms.com. However, millions of Malians – especially in rural and conflict-prone areas – remain offline, highlighting a significant digital divide. In this report, we delve into the state of internet access in Mali, covering how people get online, who provides the service, the hurdles faced in
2 September 2025
From Sand to Signal: The Shocking Reality of Internet Access in the Sahara

From Sand to Signal: The Shocking Reality of Internet Access in the Sahara

The Sahara spans about 9 million square kilometers (3.6 million square miles) across North Africa and covers ten countries: Algeria, Mali, Niger, Chad, Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. A Trans-Saharan Fiber Backbone is under development to connect Algeria, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Tunisia along the Trans-Saharan Highway, tying inland towns to multiple submarine cable gateways, with Chad’s 559 km link from N’Djamena toward the Niger border nearly finished by late 2024. Chad obtained its first international fiber link in 2012 and today still has no nationwide fiber backbone connecting its towns. Only about 10–12% of Chadians have
18 August 2025
The Truth About Internet Access in Slovakia: How Fast, How Cheap, and Is Satellite the Future?

The Truth About Internet Access in Slovakia: How Fast, How Cheap, and Is Satellite the Future?

FTTH/B fiber is the dominant fixed broadband in Slovakia, delivering up to 1 Gbps download and hundreds of Mbps upload, with typical latency 5–20 ms, and by 2022 about 66.8% of households were covered by FTTP, with gigabit targets by 2030. DSL remains in use where fiber is not available, offering ADSL up to 8–20 Mbps and VDSL up to 50–100 Mbps, and as of late 2023 about 53% of households had ADSL/VDSL access. Cable Internet via DOCSIS 3.1 (UPC/Vodafone) provides up to 500–1000 Mbps down and 50–100 Mbps up with 10–30 ms latency, and about 17.9% of households are
11 August 2025
Connecting São Tomé and Príncipe: Internet Access in 2025 – Infrastructure, Challenges, and Opportunities

Connecting São Tomé and Príncipe: Internet Access in 2025 – Infrastructure, Challenges, and Opportunities

As of January 2025, internet penetration stands at 61.5% of the population (about 146,000 online) with around 170,000 active mobile connections. The Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable landed in São Tomé in 2012–2013, with its final southern segment completed in 2021, increasing international bandwidth from about 50 Mbps to over 4,500 Mbps. CST accounts for about 95% of internet subscriptions, and Unitel STP entered the market in 2014 after a unified license granted in 2013 for $1.62 million. Unitel STP launched the first 4G LTE service in May 2023, and by 2025 4G is available in the capital
29 July 2025
Why Luxembourg’s Internet Is Speeding Ahead—But Can It Reach the Stars?

Why Luxembourg’s Internet Is Speeding Ahead—But Can It Reach the Stars?

As of 2024, 94.7% of Luxembourg households are served by a Very High Capacity Network (approximately 1 Gbps or more), with coverage rising to 95.2% by 2025. Fiber-to-the-premises coverage is about 80% of households, with FTTH deployment underway since the late 1990s. Cable broadband via DOCSIS 3.1 from Eltrona/Telenet reaches about 90% of households, typically delivering 500 Mbps or higher. NGA availability (networks offering at least 30 Mbps) reaches 99% of households thanks to VDSL2 with fiber-to-the-cabinet and cable networks. Orange Luxembourg offers Livebox Fiber up to 8.5 Gbps down and 1.5 Gbps up for around €99.99 per month. Luxembourg
26 June 2025
The Digital Desert Awakens: Inside Tunisia’s Expanding Internet Frontier

The Digital Desert Awakens: Inside Tunisia’s Expanding Internet Frontier

As of early 2024, about 9.96 million Tunisians were internet users, roughly 79.6% of the population. In January 2024, Tunisia had 16.73 million active mobile connections, equal to 133.7% of the population. 99.9% of the population is covered by mobile signals, with 4G reaching about 94.9% of inhabitants. Tunisie Telecom’s fiber backbone spans roughly 50,000 km, and late-2024 initiatives connected 2,900 homes in Tataouine (~7,000 users) via fiber at about $160,000. International bandwidth capacity grew from 82.5 Gbps in 2012 to about 1,710 Gbps in 2023. 5G licensing occurred in September 2024, initial licenses were granted in November 2024, and
24 June 2025
Inside Poland’s Internet Boom: From Urban Speeds to Satellite Signals

Inside Poland’s Internet Boom: From Urban Speeds to Satellite Signals

By mid-2023, fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) passed 75.4% of Polish homes, making FTTP the most prevalent fixed broadband technology. By mid-2023 rural FTTP coverage reached 56.3% of rural homes, overtaking DSL as the largest rural broadband technology. National fixed broadband coverage stood at 86.9% of households, with rural coverage at 74.0% by mid-2023. In October 2023, Poland concluded its 3.6 GHz 5G spectrum auction, granting 100 MHz licenses to all four operators and obligating 5G to deliver at least 95 Mbps to 90% of the territory and 99% of households. By mid-2023, 58.5% of rural households had 5G coverage, aided by rapid
The Digital Desert: Inside Equatorial Guinea’s Struggle for Internet Access

The Digital Desert: Inside Equatorial Guinea’s Struggle for Internet Access

Equatorial Guinea is described as a digital desert due to the internet’s high cost, slow speeds, and limited availability. Internet access began in 1997 via a France-backed connection, and by 2010 only about 2% of the population were internet users. GETESA, the state-dominated operator, held about 60% ownership with Orange S.A. around 40%, and controlled international gateways via GITGE. HiTs Telecom launched Green Com (Muni) around 2011, and GECOMSA was created in 2012 to expand competition. Equatorial Guinea connected to the ACE submarine cable in 2012, and domestic Ceiba-1 and Ceiba-2 cables linked the mainland Rio Muni with Bioko. Internet
Internet Access in Cuba: From Control to Constellations

Internet Access in Cuba: From Control to Constellations

The first internet connection in Cuba was established in 1996 as a 64 Kbps link via Sprint in the United States. In 2011, with help from Venezuela, Cuba installed the ALBA-1 undersea fiber-optic cable, which became publicly usable in January 2013, replacing the old satellite backbone. From December 6–8, 2018, ETECSA rolled out mobile internet over 3G for Cuban cellphone users. By the end of 2019, an estimated 7.1 million Cubans were online in some capacity, as mobile data began to take hold. In 2023, the Arimao undersea cable, built with France’s Orange, was completed, linking Cuba to Martinique and
Botswana’s Digital Leap: How Satellites and Smartphones Are Redefining Internet Access in the Kalahari

Botswana’s Digital Leap: How Satellites and Smartphones Are Redefining Internet Access in the Kalahari

As of early 2024, about 2.09 million Batswana were internet users, representing roughly 77.3% of the population. Cellular penetration is around 185%, with mobile internet subscriptions at 2.93 million and fixed-line subscriptions at 164,000. Orange Botswana launched Africa’s first 5G network in 2022, initially covering about 30% of the population. SpaceX’s Starlink entered Botswana in August 2024 after BOCRA approved the license in May 2024, with Paratus Botswana becoming the first authorized Starlink reseller. BoFiNet operates the national fiber backbone and buys capacity from submarine cables like WACS and EASSy, becoming the largest provider of Botswana’s international bandwidth; as of
2 June 2025
Benin’s Internet Revolution: How a Small Nation Is Bridging the Digital Divide with Fiber and Starlink

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

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
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