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 ...
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
2 top French doctors said on live TV that coronavirus vaccines should be tested on poor Africans, leaving viewers horrified
A man during a nationwide coronavirus lockdown near Durban, South Africa.
Rogan Ward/REUTERS
Two highly respected French doctors discussed on live television how a new COVID-19 vaccine under development should be first tested in Africa, "where there are no masks, no treatment, nor intensive care."
One of them, Jean-Paul Mira, even compared Africans to prostitutes who were the focus of past AIDS studies. "We tried things on prostitutes because they are highly exposed and do not protect themselves," he said.
Several African soccer stars who played in Europe, including the former Chelsea star Didier Drogba and the former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, tweeted their outrage at the two medics' remarks.
A discussion between two top French doctors on live TV left viewers horrified when they proposed that Africa should become a giant laboratory for coronavirus vaccine testing because the continent lacked the resources to defend against COVID-19.
Related Video: Inside London During COVID-19 Lockdown
0:26
3:48
Inside London during COVID-19 lockdown
Scroll back up to restore default view.
In the segment broadcast on the French TV channel LCI, Jean-Paul Mira and Camille Locht raised the idea of testing new vaccines on impoverished African populations.
Mira is head of the intensive-care department at the Cochin Hospital in Paris, while Locht is the research director at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, known as Inserm.
"If I can be provocative," Mira said, "shouldn't we do this study in Africa where there are no masks, no treatment, no intensive care? A bit like we did in some studies on AIDS. We tried things on prostitutes because they are highly exposed and do not protect themselves."
Locht agreed, saying: "You are right. We are actually thinking of a parallel study in Africa to use with the same kind of approach with BCG placebos," referring to vaccination against tuberculosis that Inserm says has appeared to protect children against infections, particularly respiratory ones.
"We will in fact think seriously about it," he said.
The footage, broadcast Wednesday, triggered a deluge of outrage accusing the doctors of white colonial attitudes.
Several of Africa's leading soccer players, including the former Chelsea star Didier Drogba and the former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, also tweeted their anger.
Drogba, who is from Ivory Coast, tweeted: "It is totally inconceivable we keep on cautioning this. Africa isn't a testing lab. I would like to vividly denounce those demeaning, false and most of all deeply racists words."
"Welcome to the West, where white people believe themselves to be so superior that racism and debility become commonplace," tweeted Ba, who is from Senegal. "Time to rise."
Inserm, ranked as the world's second-best research institution in the health sector, issued an official statement on Twitter saying the proposal had been "wrongly interpreted" and included the hashtag "#FakeNews."
#FakeNews Une vidéo tronquée, tirée d’1 interview sur @LCI d’1 de nos chercheurs à propos de l’utilisation potentielle du vaccin #BCG contre le #COVID19 fait l’objet d’interprétations erronées sur les réseaux sociaux. Voici les bonnes explications.
On Thursday, there were more than 6,700 confirmed coronavirus cases and 229 deaths in Africa, with many countries imposing a range of preventive and containment measures against the spread of the pandemic, according to African health officials.
France alone has logged 59,105 infections and 5,387 deaths.
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 ...
The epic vessel is a 30-knot "battlewagon" designed to chase marlin, swordfish and sailfish. It's also decidedly lavish. By HOWARD WALKER Courtesy Vripack To hook the world’s biggest fighting fish, in the words of Chief Brody in the classic 1975 movie Jaws , “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” Privately owned fishing boats won’t come any bigger than this astonishing 171-foot super-luxury sportfisherman, set to claim the title of “World’s Largest Sportfish Superyacht.” Designed by Dutch naval architects Vripack , and soon to start construction at the Royal Huisman yard in the Netherlands, Project 406 as it’s currently codenamed, will be a 30-knot “battlewagon,” designed to chase marlin, swordfish and sailfish to the ends of the earth. “Project 406 is a sportfishing machine on steroids,” Vripack co-creative director Bart M. Bouwhuis told Robb Report . “It has the proportions of a typical American sportfishing ...
The speedy LAR-01's automotive interior adds comfort and luxury. Plus: The wings detach, so the jet can be stored in a home garage. By MICHAEL VERDON Courtesy Flaris The Flaris LAR-01 has a number of striking stats, including being a ton lighter (literally) than its competitors, along with an unusually short-field landing capability, and detachable wings. But its most impressive number is the 250-knot true air speed, which its designers say makes it the world’s fastest business jet among single-engine very light jets and turboprop aircraft. Flaris says recent tests “confirmed the assumptions made previously” about the effectiveness of multiple systems, including its Garmin G600 avionics and Flaris Flight Assistance System flight computer, as well as the landing gear and emergency parachute system. But it also claims more impressive stats like the 250-knot TSA at 10,000 feet. Its 6,000-feet-per-minute climb rate, adds the compan...
