Skip to main content

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

UNHCR raises as fresh round of violence rocks Mozambique

-
AFRICA /  / 
A young boy sells peanuts in Maputo, Mozambique. File picture: Ferhat Momade/AP
PRETORIA – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday said there had been a dramatic increase of brutal attacks by armed groups in Mozambique over the past months.
Recent weeks had been the most volatile period since the incidents began in October 2017. 
UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said at least 28 attacks were carried out in Mozambique’s northernmost Cabo Delgado province since the beginning of the year. 
The attacks have now spread across nine of the 16 districts in Cabo Delgado. The province is one of the least developed parts of Mozambique. 
Attacks are now spreading towards the southern districts of Cabo Delgado, prompting people to flee to Pemba, the provincial capital. One of the latest incidents took place only 100 kilometres away from Pemba, said Mahecic. 
“Armed groups have been randomly targeting local villages and terrorising the local population. Those fleeing speak of killings, maiming, and torture, burnt homes, destroyed crops and shops. We have reports of beheadings, kidnappings and disappearances of women and children.” 
He said the attackers at times warn the local population where and when they will strike, creating panic as people flee their villages. 
“Most leave everything behind, having no time to take any belongings, food or ID documents. So far hundreds of villages have been burned or are now completely abandoned as attackers carry out a wide and indiscriminate campaign of terror. Government institutions have also been targeted,” said Mahecic. 
He added that civilians had fled in many directions, including to small islands, where many have nowhere to stay. 
“Some, among them many children and women, are sleeping rough and have limited access to clean water. The majority of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) have taken refuge with families or friends, adding pressure to already meagre local resources. Many displaced live in very poor conditions. Six people died of diarrhoea last month on Matemo island." 
In response to the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, and at the request of the Mozambican government to all humanitarian agencies, Mahecic said the UNHCR is expanding its presence in the province to better respond to the growing needs of the displaced population. 
Many are survivors of violence and human rights violations and in urgent need of protection and psycho-social support. 
“UNHCR will help coordinate all protection activities in partnership with the government. UNHCR will be deploying additional aid and staff to meet the need, initially for 15,000 IDPs and hosts communities in the coming weeks." 
Many areas affected by the attacks were devastated by cyclone Kenneth in April 2019. At that time, some 160,000 people had been directly impacted and were in need of assistance. 
People in Cabo Delgado have also been seriously affected by recent floods, which destroyed bridges, further limiting their access to food and other resources. 
The UNHCR is appealing for “urgent and strong support” to scale up its response in Mozambique. 
The global organisation has committed US$ 2 million from its operational reserve in order to meet the initial needs.

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