by Search Copywriter
K. Todd
K. Todd
Engineers from the University of Michigan - with the financial blessing of web giant Google - have recently installed a small solar-powered satellite dish in Kenyan village Entasopia giving the remote outpost access to the world.Journalist Chris Nicholson investigated the story of Google's blend entrepreneurism and altruism for the New York Times and discovered that the African village is little like the typical web-happy city of the noughties. Although Entasopia has no mains power, no village infrastructure, no banks and hardly any cars, it is now connected to a wealth of information that could change the way the village functions. This move is part of an initiative by search engine Google to connect even the most remote parts of the world.
Google is so far footing the bill for the technology and the upkeep of these projects and has also invested in a start-up company, O3b, which aims to build satellites to govern over Africa by 2011.This could mean country-wide connectivity by the end of next year, something we may be so used to here in the West that by now it's difficult to imagine life without the internet.
It's clear that Africa wants to connect. According to the NY Times, between 2002 and 2007 the growth of mobile phone usage in Kenya multiplied nearly tenfold as consumers snapped up the chance to contact friends, family and colleagues more efficiently - particularly with the absence of landlines in many households. The addition of the internet - especially to remote locations that would otherwise necessitate days spent travelling to larger towns in order to communicate with contacts - could revolutionise the way things are done.
Although this is a massive benefit to the initiative, it is not necessarily the main goal. The NY Times reports that the head of Google's East Africa office, Joseph Mucheru, said: "Building infrastructure is not necessarily Google's objective, but if you look at all the areas that Google has gone into, in many cases it has been to fill a gap."
"The market should see the opportunity."
Like the mobile phone industry, the remote African internet realm could be on the brink of rapid expansion - creating a new area of market opportunities for players with their eye on the ball.
