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…
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Key Facts Infrastructure and Satellite Internet Developments Major investments in physical internet infrastructure were unveiled over the past 48 hours, spanning undersea cables and satellites. SpaceX completed its fourth Starlink launch from California in a month, lofting 24 satellites on August 29 to enhance coverage in polar regions. This bolsters SpaceX’s constellation of over 8,000 active…
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Key Facts Government Crackdowns on Digital Access Russia doubles down on censorship: In a dramatic escalation of internet control, Russia implemented new laws on September 1 targeting both communication platforms and online content. The Kremlin is forcing a switch from WhatsApp and Telegram to a domestic messaging app called “Max,” which was launched in June by…
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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…
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Introduction Uganda’s internet landscape is a mix of rapid growth and persistent gaps. Over the past decade, the country has seen a boom in mobile phone usage and internet services, yet a majority of Ugandans remain offline due to infrastructure shortfalls, high costs, and socio-economic barriers. This report provides an in-depth look at the state…
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As of early 2023, Guinea had 13.46 million active cellular connections, about 96% of the population. The National Fiber Optic Backbone was completed in 2020, spanning 4,352 km, built by Huawei with a China Eximbank loan, connecting 33 prefectures and 62 cities and providing backhaul for mobile operators. Fixed broadband is extremely limited, with fewer…
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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…
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Lesotho’s internet use shows a stark urban–rural divide: about 77% of urban residents use the internet compared with 43% of rural residents, while roughly 31% of the population lives in urban areas and 69% in rural areas. Mobile broadband is the backbone of connectivity, with Vodacom Lesotho and Econet Telecom Lesotho (ETL) delivering 3G coverage…
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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…
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As of early 2025, Sri Lanka has 29.3 million mobile subscriptions, exceeding its population. SLT’s national fiber backbone spans about 45,000 km. By mid-2022, SLT had infrastructure for 1 million fiber connections, with about 500,000 households connected, and aimed to reach 2 million by end-2023. 4G LTE coverage is essentially 100% of the population as…
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