Which countries have the “slowest” Internet and who corrects the situation in hard-to-reach regions
The speed of access to the network in different parts of the planet can vary hundreds of times. We talk about projects that seek to deliver high-speed Internet to remote regions.
We will also talk about how they regulate network access in Asia and the Middle East.
/ Unsplash / Johan Desaeyere
There are points on the planet where the speed of access to the network is much lower than comfortable. For example, in the English village of Trimley-Saint-Martin, the download speed of content is approximately 0.68 Mbit / s. Things are even worse in Bamferlong (Gloucestershire county) - where the average Internet speed is only 0.14 Mbit / s. Of course, in developed countries, such problems are observed only in sparsely populated areas. Similar areas with a "reduced speed mode" can be found in France , Ireland and even the United States .
But there are entire states for which a slow Internet is the norm. The country with the slowest Internet today is considered to be Yemen. There, the average download speed is 0.38 Mbps - users spend more than 30 hours downloading a 5-gigabyte file. Also, the list of countries with slow Internet includes Turkmenistan, Syria and Paraguay. Not the best way things are on the African continent. According to Quartz, Madagascar is the only country in Africa with a content download speed of more than 10 Mbps.
The quality of communication is one of the determining factors affecting the socio-economic condition of the country. The Telegraph says the slow Internet often forces young people to leave rural areas. Another example - in Lagos (the largest city in Nigeria) , a new technological IT ecosystem is being formed. And network connectivity issues can lead to the loss of developers and potential customers. Interestingly, an increase in the number of Internet users in Africa by only 10% will increase the volume of international trade by about half a percent. Therefore, today projects are actively developing whose task is to deliver the Internet to even the most remote corners of the globe.
In areas where few people live, infrastructure investments pay off longer than in large cities. For example, in Singapore, where, according to the SpeedTest index, the fastest Internet in the world, the population density is 7.3 thousand people per square meter. kilometer. The development of IT infrastructure here looks much more interesting compared to the small villages in Africa. But despite this, such projects are still developing.
For example, Loon is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. - strives to provide African countries access to the network using balloons. They raise telecommunication equipment to a height of 20 kilometers and provide communications with an area of 5 square meters. kilometers. In mid-summer, Loon gave the green light to conducting commercial tests in Kenya.
/ CC BY / iLighter
There are examples from another part of the globe. In Alaska, mountain ranges, fishing, and permafrost make it difficult to lay cables. Therefore, two years ago, the American operator General Communication (GCI) built there a radio relay ( RRL ) network with a length of several thousand kilometers. It covers the southwestern part of the state. Engineers built more than a hundred towers with microwave transceivers that provide Internet access for 45 thousand people.
Recently, many media often write about the regulation of both the Internet and the laws that are adopted in the West and in Europe. However, bills worth paying attention to appear in Asia and the Middle East. For example, a couple of years ago, India passed a law "On the temporary suspension of telecommunication services." The law has already been tested in practice - in 2017, it caused interruptions in Internet connectivity in the states of Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, as well as West Bengal and Maharashtra.
A similar law has been in force in China since 2015. It also allows you to locally restrict Internet access for reasons of national security. Similar rules apply in Ethiopia and Iraq - they “turn off” the Internet there during school exams.
/ CC BY-SA / włodi
There are bills that relate to the operation of individual Internet services. Two years ago, the PRC government ordered local providers and telecommunications companies to block traffic through VPN services that were not officially registered.
And Australia has passed a bill that prohibits messengers from using end-to-end encryption. A number of Western countries - in particular, Great Britain and the USA - are already looking at the experience of their Australian colleagues and are planning to promote a similar bill. Whether they will succeed, remains to be seen in the near future.
We will also talk about how they regulate network access in Asia and the Middle East.
/ Unsplash / Johan Desaeyere
Places with slow internet - they still exist
There are points on the planet where the speed of access to the network is much lower than comfortable. For example, in the English village of Trimley-Saint-Martin, the download speed of content is approximately 0.68 Mbit / s. Things are even worse in Bamferlong (Gloucestershire county) - where the average Internet speed is only 0.14 Mbit / s. Of course, in developed countries, such problems are observed only in sparsely populated areas. Similar areas with a "reduced speed mode" can be found in France , Ireland and even the United States .
But there are entire states for which a slow Internet is the norm. The country with the slowest Internet today is considered to be Yemen. There, the average download speed is 0.38 Mbps - users spend more than 30 hours downloading a 5-gigabyte file. Also, the list of countries with slow Internet includes Turkmenistan, Syria and Paraguay. Not the best way things are on the African continent. According to Quartz, Madagascar is the only country in Africa with a content download speed of more than 10 Mbps.
A couple of materials from our blog on Habré:
The quality of communication is one of the determining factors affecting the socio-economic condition of the country. The Telegraph says the slow Internet often forces young people to leave rural areas. Another example - in Lagos (the largest city in Nigeria) , a new technological IT ecosystem is being formed. And network connectivity issues can lead to the loss of developers and potential customers. Interestingly, an increase in the number of Internet users in Africa by only 10% will increase the volume of international trade by about half a percent. Therefore, today projects are actively developing whose task is to deliver the Internet to even the most remote corners of the globe.
Who builds networks in hard-to-reach regions
In areas where few people live, infrastructure investments pay off longer than in large cities. For example, in Singapore, where, according to the SpeedTest index, the fastest Internet in the world, the population density is 7.3 thousand people per square meter. kilometer. The development of IT infrastructure here looks much more interesting compared to the small villages in Africa. But despite this, such projects are still developing.
For example, Loon is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. - strives to provide African countries access to the network using balloons. They raise telecommunication equipment to a height of 20 kilometers and provide communications with an area of 5 square meters. kilometers. In mid-summer, Loon gave the green light to conducting commercial tests in Kenya.
/ CC BY / iLighter
There are examples from another part of the globe. In Alaska, mountain ranges, fishing, and permafrost make it difficult to lay cables. Therefore, two years ago, the American operator General Communication (GCI) built there a radio relay ( RRL ) network with a length of several thousand kilometers. It covers the southwestern part of the state. Engineers built more than a hundred towers with microwave transceivers that provide Internet access for 45 thousand people.
How to regulate networks in different countries
Recently, many media often write about the regulation of both the Internet and the laws that are adopted in the West and in Europe. However, bills worth paying attention to appear in Asia and the Middle East. For example, a couple of years ago, India passed a law "On the temporary suspension of telecommunication services." The law has already been tested in practice - in 2017, it caused interruptions in Internet connectivity in the states of Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, as well as West Bengal and Maharashtra.
A similar law has been in force in China since 2015. It also allows you to locally restrict Internet access for reasons of national security. Similar rules apply in Ethiopia and Iraq - they “turn off” the Internet there during school exams.
/ CC BY-SA / włodi
There are bills that relate to the operation of individual Internet services. Two years ago, the PRC government ordered local providers and telecommunications companies to block traffic through VPN services that were not officially registered.
And Australia has passed a bill that prohibits messengers from using end-to-end encryption. A number of Western countries - in particular, Great Britain and the USA - are already looking at the experience of their Australian colleagues and are planning to promote a similar bill. Whether they will succeed, remains to be seen in the near future.
Additional reading on the topic from the corporate blog:
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