Today: 13 November 2025
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Beyond Starlink: Inside the New Space Race for Satellite Internet Dominance in 2025

Vodacom Strikes Starlink Deal to Accelerate African Broadband Rollout

South Africa’s largest mobile operator will integrate Starlink’s low‑Earth‑orbit capacity into its network and resell the satellite service where licensed, targeting faster connectivity and better rural coverage across the continent. Published: November 12, 2025 Vodacom Group has signed an agreement with Elon Musk’s Starlink to bring high‑speed, low‑latency internet to businesses across Africa, marking one of the highest‑profile tie‑ups yet between a major African carrier and a satellite provider. Vodacom said it will fold Starlink’s technology into its mobile network and is authorized to resell Starlink equipment and services to customers in African markets. Reuters What’s in the deal The
12 November 2025
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Lightning-Fast Internet Finally Arrives in Tonga’s Far-Flung Islands? A Deep Dive into Tonga’s Connectivity Boom and Challenges

Lightning-Fast Internet Finally Arrives in Tonga’s Far-Flung Islands? A Deep Dive into Tonga’s Connectivity Boom and Challenges

Key Facts 1. Overview of Internet Access in Tonga Tonga – a Polynesian kingdom of over 170 islands – has seen dramatic improvements in internet connectivity over the past decade. Prior to 2013, Tonga’s internet was limited to expensive, slow satellite links, resulting in low penetration and high costs. This changed when the nation’s first submarine fiber-optic cable went live in August 2013, delivering affordable high-speed internet to Tongans “for the first time ever” worldbank.org. The 827 km Tonga Cable connects Nuku’alofa (the capital on Tongatapu) to Fiji, where it links into global networks worldbank.org. This milestone was heralded as
8 September 2025
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Global Internet Access Shockwaves: Cable Cuts, Censorship & Broadband Booms (Sept 6–7, 2025)

Global Internet Access Shockwaves: Cable Cuts, Censorship & Broadband Booms (Sept 6–7, 2025)

Massive Outages and Network Disruptions On September 6, a sudden multi-cable break in the Red Sea sent shockwaves through global connectivity. Several undersea fiber-optic cables (including the SMW4 and IMEWE systems) were simultaneously cut near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia beaumontenterprise.com. The impact was felt across continents – internet traffic between Europe/Asia and the Middle East slowed to a crawl, and countries like Pakistan and India experienced degraded service beaumontenterprise.com. Microsoft’s Azure cloud warned users of increased latency as data was rerouted onto backup paths beaumontenterprise.com. In the Gulf, UAE customers on du and Etisalat noticed sluggish speeds beaumontenterprise.com. While the exact
7 September 2025
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Internet Access Chaos: Blackouts, Crackdowns & Broadband Breakthroughs (Sept 5–6, 2025)

Internet Access Chaos: Blackouts, Crackdowns & Broadband Breakthroughs (Sept 5–6, 2025)

Major Outages and Internet Shutdowns In early September 2025, multiple outages and deliberate shutdowns disrupted internet access for millions across different regions. In the United States, a major Verizon network failure on August 30 demonstrated the fragility of even advanced telecom systems ts2.tech. Starting around midday (Eastern time), Verizon mobile users from California to New York suddenly lost service, with their phones stuck in emergency “SOS only” mode instead of connecting to any network ts2.tech. By mid-afternoon, outage reports spiked above 23,000 as people complained they couldn’t make calls or use mobile data ts2.tech. Verizon attributed the blackout to a
6 September 2025
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From Beaches to Broadband: Inside Saint Vincent & the Grenadines’ Internet Boom

From Beaches to Broadband: Inside Saint Vincent & the Grenadines’ Internet Boom

Key Facts Fixed Broadband Internet Access Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has seen a dramatic leap in fixed broadband availability and speeds in recent years. The country’s two main Internet Service Providers – Flow (the incumbent, formerly Cable & Wireless) and Digicel – now deliver broadband via hybrid fiber-coaxial cable networks and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), respectively. These fixed networks cover the mainland and, increasingly, the smaller Grenadine islands thanks to the new undersea fiber backbone. Today, residents in the capital Kingstown or on outer islands like Bequia can all access high-speed home internet service. Typical entry-level packages offer on the order
4 September 2025
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Blackouts, Crackdowns & Broadband Booms: Internet Access News Roundup (Sept 3–4, 2025)

Blackouts, Crackdowns & Broadband Booms: Internet Access News Roundup (Sept 3–4, 2025)

Infrastructure and Satellite Expansions Over the past 48 hours, major investments in physical internet infrastructure were unveiled worldwide. SpaceX capped a busy summer of launches with yet another batch of 24 Starlink broadband satellites lifted into orbit on August 29 ts2.tech. This marked SpaceX’s fourth Starlink launch in a month, expanding its constellation (now over 8,000 active satellites) and improving coverage in high-latitude regions like Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia ts2.tech. With this growth, Starlink continues to deliver high-speed internet to remote areas in dozens of countries. And it’s not alone – Amazon’s Project Kuiper, a rival low-Earth orbit satellite network, is
4 September 2025
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Trinidad & Tobago’s Internet Boom: From 80% Online to Blazing Broadband Speeds

Trinidad & Tobago’s Internet Boom: From 80% Online to Blazing Broadband Speeds

Overview of Internet Infrastructure (Fixed, Mobile, Fiber & More) Trinidad and Tobago’s internet infrastructure is a mix of modern fiber-optic networks, cable systems, wireless technologies, and mobile broadband. On the fixed broadband side, connectivity is delivered via several technologies: On the mobile side, Trinidad and Tobago is thoroughly covered by 3G/4G mobile data networks: Below is a summary of the main internet access technologies in Trinidad & Tobago: Access Technology Status in T&T (2025) Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Widely deployed in populated areas by Flow, Digicel, and Amplia (TSTT). Provides 100–1000 Mbps plans. Rapid growth in recent years. Cable Broadband (HFC) Extensive coverage
1 September 2025
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Wi‑Fi Titans Clash: Starlink Gen3 vs TP‑Link Deco BE95 vs Netgear Orbi 970 – 2025 Mesh Router Showdown

Global Satellite Internet Showdown 2025: Starlink vs. Viasat vs. OneWeb – Who’s Winning the Race for Space Broadband?

Key Facts Introduction Satellite internet has entered a new era in 2025. Once a niche last-resort service with slow speeds and tiny data caps, it’s now a fast-growing sector powering everything from rural homes to airplanes in flight. The charge has been led by SpaceX’s Starlink, the low-Earth orbit constellation that proved satellite broadband can be fast and relatively low-latency. Hot on its heels are legacy players like Viasat and HughesNet upgrading their systems, new LEO networks like OneWeb targeting businesses, and tech giants like Amazon’s Project Kuiper preparing to launch full services. Even regional and government initiatives are joining
31 August 2025
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Internet Access Revolution: Starlink’s Global Surge, Broadband Booms & Outages – Aug 30–31, 2025

Internet Access Revolution: Starlink’s Global Surge, Broadband Booms & Outages – Aug 30–31, 2025

Key Facts Summary Starlink’s Global Surge and the Satellite Internet Race Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellite internet continues its explosive growth, dramatically expanding global internet access. SpaceX Starlink, the largest LEO constellation, hit a new milestone in late August 2025 with over 7 million active subscribers worldwide spaceflightnow.com – up from 4 million a year prior – served by roughly 1,900 satellites launched just in 2025 so far spaceflightnow.com spaceflightnow.com. On August 30, SpaceX launched yet another Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink satellites, its 77th Starlink launch of the year spaceflightnow.com, underscoring the company’s unprecedented pace (SpaceX aims for 170 orbital launches in 2025,
31 August 2025
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Northern Ireland’s Internet Access Revolution: Gigabit Broadband, 5G, and Starlink in 2025

Northern Ireland’s Internet Access Revolution: Gigabit Broadband, 5G, and Starlink in 2025

Key Facts at a Glance 1. Overview of Internet Infrastructure in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland’s internet infrastructure has undergone a rapid transformation, emerging as a standout success story in the UK. In 2025, NI boasts the most extensive high-speed broadband coverage of any UK nation, alongside near-ubiquitous mobile connectivity. This small region (population ~1.9 million) has leveraged aggressive fiber deployments, cable network upgrades, and mobile network expansion to ensure that almost every home and business can get online with fast speeds. Fixed Broadband: The backbone of NI’s internet is a highly developed fixed broadband network. The vast majority of connections
29 August 2025
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Why New Zealand’s Most Remote Farms Now Have Faster Internet Than Many City Homes

Why New Zealand’s Most Remote Farms Now Have Faster Internet Than Many City Homes

By 2025, about 69–70% of New Zealanders have fiber-optic internet at home. The Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) program had reached 87% of the population by the end of 2022. By mid-2023, fiber uptake reached 73% of premises passed, with fiber lines accounting for about 70% of fixed broadband connections. Spark, One NZ (formerly Vodafone NZ), and 2degrees collectively serve roughly 73% of the broadband market on the open-access UFB fiber network. Standard residential fiber plans offer 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps, Hyperfibre reaches 2–8 Gbps in some areas, and about 30% of new fiber subscribers choose gigabit speeds. 4G mobile coverage
21 August 2025
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The Gambia’s Internet Revolution: How Fiber, 5G, and Satellite Broadband Are Connecting a Nation

The Gambia’s Internet Revolution: How Fiber, 5G, and Satellite Broadband Are Connecting a Nation

The Gambia has used the ACE submarine fiber-optic cable since 2011, but a 2022 ACE outage knocked the country offline for over eight hours and backup links via Senegal failed, prompting plans for a second submarine cable landing in Banjul under the World Bank-funded Western Africa Regional Digital Integration Program (WARDIP). Gamtel launched the National Broadband Network (NBN) backbone in 2019 with Huawei’s support to extend high-speed links across the country. An Internet Exchange Point (IXP) was established in 2014 to localize Gambian internet traffic, though its impact has been muted so far. QCell launched the country’s first 5G service
20 August 2025
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