ADSL on its last legs in South Africa

-
Image
  By   Daniel Puchert Partially state-owned telecommunications company Telkom announced in its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2025 that its ADSL subscribers had more than halved to under 30,000. According to the company’s operational data, ADSL lines decreased from 64,959 in March 2024 to 29,770. This 54.2% decline highlights that the legacy broadband technology is slowly approaching the end of the road. Telkom’s ADSL business peaked at the end of March 2016 with 1.01 million subscribers — two years after fibre upstart Vumatel  broke ground in Parkhurst . What followed was a sharp decline in Telkom ADSL subscribers. Customers connected to its copper networks decreased by more than 500,000 over the next four years. This was partly driven by Telkom itself, which began actively switching off its copper network in some neighbourhoods. If it did not have fibre in the area, it would offer a “fixed line lookalike” wireless service that ran over its cellular ...
Post a Comment

Nigeria: Meet Hope - the Abandoned Toddler Accused of Witchcraft Now a Budding Schoolboy Athlete

-
Photo: Anja Ringgren Lovén/Facebook
Meet Hope - From being branded a witch, abandoned, rejected and stigmatized to representing his school in 100 meters race.
In February 2016 This is Africa shared the gut wrenching picture of an abandoned toddler, accused of being a witch in Uyo, Nigeria. Recently, Anja Ringgren the charity worker who rescued Hope shared pictures of the boy on Facebook, donning his school sports kit, participating in the inter-house sports competition.
In February 2016 This is Africa shared the gut wrenching picture, and story of a toddler who was abandoned, and called a witch by his community in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, in Nigeria. The toddler was rescued by Anja Ringgren Lovén, a Danish humanitarian worker, and David Emmanuel Umem who run the African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation, a charity organisation dedicated to helping abandoned children.
The toddler, later named Hope, was found in a delicate state, owing to the inhumane conditions he was living in.
A year after his rescue Hope made such a remarkable recovery, and started attending school, news which went viral on social media, and it was celebrated by many people across the continent.
Fast forward to 2019, Hope is living testimony to the power of humanity to help others in need, transforming lives by alleviating suffering, protecting life and health, and upholding human dignity.
Recently, Anja Ringgren shared the story, and latest pictures of Hope on Facebook, donning his sports kit, representing his team in the school's inter-house sports competition. The lovely pictures certainly warmed the hearts of many people who followed the story from when the boy was rescued in 2016.
Anja wrote on Facebook: "From being branded a witch, abandoned, rejected and stigmatized to representing his school in 100 meters race 💪🏿🏃🏿‍♂️😍 Today, Hope is taking part in his school's Inter-House Sport Festival and of course he will be representing his team in the 100 meters race🏅🏆 See my little nugget he's got swag 😂😎🤙🏿".
Plight of children accused of witchcraft
Thousands of children are accused of being witches in parts of Africa, and the children are tortured, and even killed.
The children accused of witchcraft are blamed for any perceived curse in the community either by neighbours or their own families. The accusations include being blamed for diseases, death in the family/community, a bad harvest or the loss of a job, accidents and any other natural calamities.
In worst cases, children get mutilated or even killed. The number of unreported cases is high, and police often refuses to intervene, as these cultural acts are a taboo subject in public discourse and the fear of supernatural powers is widespread even for the police and the prosecutors.
The protection of children from violence, including harmful practices, is enshrined in international human rights laws that have been adopted by the international community.

Nigeria

Total to Invest in New Oil Fields in Nigeria
Oil major Total Group has expressed its resolve to invest in new oil fields in Nigeria if fresh licence is granted the… Read more »

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If everyone on Earth sat in the ocean at once, how much would sea level rise?

-
Image
  There are a lot of people, but the oceans are very big.   Rosley Majid/EyeEm via Getty Images If everyone on Earth sat in the ocean at once, how much would sea level rise? March 29, 2021 2.07pm SAST Author Tony E. Wong Assistant Professor of Mathematical Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology Disclosure statement Tony E. Wong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Partners Rochester Institute of Technology  provides funding as a member of The Conversation US. The Conversation is funded by the National Research Foundation, eight universities, including the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Rhodes University, Stellenbosch University and the Universities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Pretoria, and South Africa. It is hosted by the Universities of the Witwatersrand and Wester...
Read more

Andrew Watson: The 'most influential' black footballer for decades lost to history

-
Image
  By Andrew Aloia BBC Sport Last updated on 11 October 2021 11 October 2021 . From the section Football Watson was a trailblazer who helped transform how football was played There are two murals of black footballers facing one another across an alleyway in Glasgow. One helped shape football as we know it, the other is Pele. Andrew Watson captained Scotland to a 6-1 win over England on his debut in 1881. He was a pioneer, the world's first black international, but for more than a century the significance of his achievements went unrecognised. Research conducted over the past three decades has left us with some biographical details: a man descended of slaves and of those who enslaved them, born in Guyana, raised to become an English gentleman and famed as one of Scottish football's first icons. And yet today, 100 years on from his death aged 64, Watson remains something of an enigma, the picture built around him a fractured one. His grainy, faded, sepia image evokes many differen...
Read more

Which countries have the world’s largest coal reserves?

-
Image
  Visual Capitalist Elements   | September 15, 2021 | 8:58 am   Intelligence   Australia   USA   Coal   The Countries With the Largest Coal Reserves Cheap and abundant coal remains one of the largest sources of energy worldwide, even as governments set out goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While jurisdictions in Europe and North America have been phasing out coal use in power generation, it has been on the rise in Asia. China and India are scrambling to provide electricity to a growing population and relying on coal power plants to meet demands despite the environmental costs. SIGN UP FOR THE ENERGY DIGEST Sign Up This infographic takes a look into the  BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021 , and the 11 countries that make up  89%  of the coal reserves globally. Coal Reserves, by Country While countries need to phase out coal by 2040 to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC, consumption in key ...
Read more