Internet Access

Cable Cuts, Crackdowns & Satellite Surges: Global Internet Access Upheavals (7–8 Sept 2025)

Key Facts In-Depth Report Undersea Cable Outage Shakes Asia & Mideast A sudden severing of multiple undersea internet cables in the Red Sea over the weekend sent shockwaves through global connectivity. On September 7, monitoring groups reported that two major subsea fiber systems (the SEA-ME-WE 4 and IMEWE cables) were cut near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, dramatically slowing or disrupting internet service in countries including India, Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE beaumontenterprise.com beaumontenterprise.com. NetBlocks called it “a series of subsea cable outages” that degraded connectivity across the region beaumontenterprise.com. Technology giant Microsoft alerted Azure cloud customers to expect increased latency

8 September 2025

Internet Access in Togo: Surprising Stats and the Race to Connect a Nation

Overview of Internet Access in Togo Togo is a small West African nation making significant strides in digital connectivity. Internet usage has grown steadily over the past decade. By January 2024, 3.44 million Togolese were Internet users, about 37.6% of the population datareportal.com. This marks a substantial increase from just a few years prior (for example, in 2016, usage was roughly half of today’s level blog.google). Still, it means nearly 6 million people (62%) remain offline datareportal.com, indicating plenty of room for growth. The majority of non-users are in rural and low-income segments, constrained by coverage gaps, costs, and digital

6 September 2025

Africa · Connectivity · Digital Development · Internet Access · Togo

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

Broadband · Connectivity · Internet · NASDAQ:AMZN · NASDAQ:GOOGL · NASDAQ:META · News · NYSE:VZ · Technology

Papua New Guinea’s Internet Access Crisis: Sky-High Costs, Bold Plans, and a Digital Divide

Key Facts Overview: A Nation Still Largely Offline Papua New Guinea (PNG) faces an uphill battle in bringing internet access to its population, which is dispersed across difficult terrain and hundreds of islands. General internet penetration remains very low – only about 24.1% of the population were internet users at the start of 2025 datareportal.com datareportal.com. In other words, roughly three out of every four Papua New Guineans have never been online. This rate is starkly below the global average and even lags behind many neighboring Pacific Island countries. The total number of internet users was estimated at 2.57 million

5 September 2025

Connectivity · Digital Divide · Internet Access · Papua New Guinea · Technology Policy

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

Broadband · Connectivity · Digital Divide · Internet Access · NASDAQ:AMZN · NASDAQ:META · NYSE:VZ · Tech Policy

Global Internet Access Shake-Up: Outages, Crackdowns, and a Race to Connect the Unconnected

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 satellites, which is already delivering broadband to dozens of countries. Rival project Kuiper – Amazon’s satellite internet network – is also accelerating: Amazon announced it expects to begin beta service by late 2025, after deploying its first 27 satellites in April and scheduling another launch

3 September 2025

Connectivity · Digital Divide · Global Issues · Internet · NASDAQ:AMZN · NASDAQ:META · NYSE:VZ · Technology

Internet Access Upheaval: Censorship Crackdowns, Satellite Booms & Shutdowns Rock the Globe (Aug 31 – Sep 1, 2025)

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 state-controlled tech firm VK thebarentsobserver.com thebarentsobserver.com. All phones sold in Russia from Sept 1 onward will come with “Max” pre-installed as the default, and officials are pressuring businesses and even universities to adopt it. At the same time, merely viewing or searching for banned information online

1 September 2025

Censorship · Global News · Internet Access · NASDAQ:CMCSA · NYSE:T · Satellite Internet · Technology Policy

Uganda’s Internet Access Revolution: From Digital Divide to Digital Drive in 2025

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 of internet access in Uganda as of 2024–2025, covering penetration rates, service types (mobile, broadband, satellite), key providers, infrastructure developments, government policies, inclusion challenges, and the future outlook. All statistics are the most recent available – many from 2024 or early 2025 – to give

28 August 2025

Africa · Digital Divide · Internet · Technology · Uganda

How Guinea Is Quietly Getting Online: The Untold Story of Internet Access and Satellite Expansion

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 than 900 fixed broadband subscribers in 2022. GFO, a newly licensed wholesale fiber provider, began offering open-access fiber interconnection in 2023 to lower costs and expand fiber links. Orange Guinée dominated the mobile market in 2024 with about 75% of subscribers; MTN Guinea held about

24 August 2025

Connectivity · Guinea · Internet · Satellite · Technology

Internet Access in Laos: The 2025 Guide to Coverage, Costs, and Satellite Connectivity

By 2023 Laos had laid over 98,500 kilometers of fiber-optic cable and operates 18 international transmission lines interconnecting with Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and China. Mobile signal reaches 97% of villages nationwide, covering 8,245 villages across 18 provinces. As of late 2024, 2G coverage reached 97% of the population, 3G covered 85%, and 4G/LTE about 78%. 5G networks have been introduced on a limited scale, initially launched in Vientiane and a handful of major provinces. Unitel has over 5 million subscribers and roughly 50% of Laos’s mobile market share. LaoTel (Lao Telecom) has around one-third market share and over 3

23 August 2025

Connectivity · Internet · Laos · Satellite · Technology

Inside the Struggle for Internet Access in Western Sahara: From Political Blackouts to Satellite Lifelines

As of January 2024, Western Sahara had about 398,000 internet users, roughly 67.1% of the population, up by 65,000 users (a 19% increase) from 2023. By early 2024 about 87% of the population lived in urban areas (Laayoune, Dakhla, Smara, Boujdour), while about 32.9% remained offline, concentrated in rural or nomadic communities. The median fixed broadband speed in early 2024 was about 19.9 Mbps, a 30% year-over-year improvement but still behind global averages. Over 57% of Western Sahara’s population uses social media, totaling around 341,000 people, with social media penetration near 58%. Connectivity in Western Sahara is dominated by Maroc

4 August 2025

Human Rights · Internet Access · Politics · Satellite Technology · Western Sahara

Pakistan’s Internet Access Frontier: Fiber Optics, 5G Delays, and Starlink’s Big Promise

By January 2025, Pakistan had 116 million internet users, about 45.7% of the population. By early 2025, Pakistan had 190+ million mobile connections, roughly 75% of the population, with many people using multiple SIMs. Fixed broadband penetration remains under 2%, with about 3.6 million fixed subscriptions. Fiber backhaul is still limited, with fiber teledensity around 0.45% and only 9–11% of towers fiber-connected, well below a 40% international benchmark. Around mid-2024, 4G/3G coverage reached about 81% of the population, and more than 95% of cell sites supported 4G LTE. Pakistan has not launched commercial 5G as of 2025, with the PTA

3 August 2025

5G · Fiber Optics · Internet · NASDAQ:VEON · Pakistan · Starlink