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Internet

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
AI Browser Wars Ignite: Perplexity’s Comet Lands in India to Challenge Chrome & Co.

$200 AI Browser Now FREE for All: Perplexity’s Comet Takes on Chrome and Internet “Slop”

Comet Browser Goes Free for Everyone Perplexity first unveiled Comet in July 2025 as a paid add-on for its Perplexity Max users (a $200/month tier) techcrunch.com. Demand was strong: the company says millions joined the waiting list for access. Now the company has removed the paywall completely. On October 2, Perplexity announced on social media that “Comet is now generally available to download for everyone (free, Pro and Max users)!” livemint.com. The launch message was frank: “The internet is better on Comet” tomsguide.com. In remarks reported by Business Insider, Srinivas explained that Perplexity wants to “build a better internet…that needs
SpaceX Launches 28 Starlink Satellites at Dawn – Boosts World’s Largest Satellite Fleet Toward Global Internet

SpaceX Launches 28 Starlink Satellites at Dawn – Boosts World’s Largest Satellite Fleet Toward Global Internet

Falcon 9 Dawn Launch Delivers 28 New Starlink Satellites SpaceX notched another predawn launch on Florida’s Space Coast, sending 28 fresh Starlink satellites into orbit as part of its ongoing mission to blanket the globe in internet coverage. The Falcon 9 rocket lit up the early morning sky at approximately 5:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Sept. 18, 2025, lifting off from Cape Canaveral’s SLC-40 pad space.com. The mission – designated Starlink Group 10-61 – marked yet another routine flight for SpaceX but one that continues to build an unprecedented satellite network overhead. According to SpaceX, the launch window opened at
19 September 2025
Japan’s $300 Million Undersea Cable Gamble: Inside the Global Race to Secure the Internet’s Lifelines

Japan’s $300 Million Undersea Cable Gamble: Inside the Global Race to Secure the Internet’s Lifelines

Japan’s Bold Move: Subsidizing Cable-Laying Ships Japan’s decision to bankroll NEC’s purchase of undersea cable vessels signals a major policy shift to protect the nation’s digital lifelines. According to officials, Tokyo is prepared to front hundreds of millions of dollars so that NEC – Asia’s biggest undersea cable installer – can acquire ocean-going cable-laying ships of its own tomshardware.com lightreading.com. Each such ship is a massive specialized vessel (costing about $300 million apiece) equipped to carry and slowly spool out thousands of kilometers of fiber-optic cable across ocean floors. Until now, NEC has owned zero of these, relying instead on leasing
17 September 2025
Mystery Cable Cuts, SpaceX’s $17B Gamble & Satellite Showdowns – Internet Access Roundup (Sept 8–9, 2025)

Mystery Cable Cuts, SpaceX’s $17B Gamble & Satellite Showdowns – Internet Access Roundup (Sept 8–9, 2025)

Key Facts Undersea Cable Cuts Cripple Asia–Middle East Internet A sudden undersea communications crisis struck over the weekend as multiple fiber-optic cables were mysteriously cut in the Red Sea. On Sept 7, internet monitors reported that two critical subsea systems – the SEA-ME-WE 4 and IMEWE cables – were severed near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia ts2.tech. The impact was felt across continents: connectivity slowed to a crawl or halted entirely in countries including India, Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE ts2.tech. “Multiple countries including India and Pakistan have been affected” by the outage, confirmed NetBlocks, calling it a “series of subsea cable
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
Samoa’s Internet Revolution: From Undersea Cables to Starlink Skies

Samoa’s Internet Revolution: From Undersea Cables to Starlink Skies

Current State of Samoa’s Internet Infrastructure Samoa’s internet infrastructure has transformed significantly in the past decade. The backbone of connectivity is now fiber-optic submarine cables. The first major cable, Tui-Samoa, went live in 2018, linking Samoa to Suva, Fiji (with branching units to Wallis & Futuna and Samoa’s second island, Savai’i) ssccsamoa.com ssccsamoa.com. This cable dramatically increased international bandwidth and reduced Samoa’s dependence on satellites for backhaul. A second international cable, the Manatua One Polynesia cable, was completed around 2020, connecting Samoa to neighboring Polynesian islands (Niue, the Cook Islands, and French Polynesia) subtelforum.com. Having two separate cables improves resiliency
7 September 2025
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
From Satellite Struggles to Starlink: Tuvalu’s Internet Revolution

From Satellite Struggles to Starlink: Tuvalu’s Internet Revolution

Overview: Current Internet Infrastructure and Access in Tuvalu Tuvalu is a Polynesian microstate of about 10,000 people spread across nine coral atolls. Until recently, its internet infrastructure consisted solely of satellite links – there were no subsea fiber cables, and even regional microwave links to neighbors were absent due to the vast ocean distances. All international and inter-island data traveled via satellite, terminating at earth stations in Funafuti (the capital island) and smaller VSAT terminals on outer islands en.wikipedia.org prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com. This satellite dependency made Tuvalu’s internet expensive, bandwidth-constrained, and prone to outages (e.g. in bad weather). For most of the
3 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
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
Saint Kitts’ Internet Revolution: From Fiber-Fast Speeds to Satellite Connectivity

Saint Kitts’ Internet Revolution: From Fiber-Fast Speeds to Satellite Connectivity

Key Facts at a Glance Overview of the Internet Landscape in Saint Kitts Saint Kitts and Nevis (population ~47,000) enjoys a robust internet landscape for its size. Internet penetration is around 76% datareportal.com, meaning over three-quarters of citizens use the internet regularly – a high rate for the Caribbean. The twin-island nation’s telecom market is regulated under the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL), which fosters a competitive and standardized environment across member states. Historically, fixed-line broadband in Saint Kitts relied on the incumbent telco’s DSL and a local cable company’s network, while mobile internet took off with the arrival of
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