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VIRTUALISATION Carrier pigeon outpaces South Africa's broadband network
VIRTUALISATION Carrier pigeon outpaces South Africa's broadband network | Carrier pigeon outpaces South Africa's broadband network |
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| by David Swan | |
| Thursday, 10 September 2009 | |
  
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Local news agency SAPA and subequently Reuters reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 80km from Unlimited IT’s offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card strapped to his leg. Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds - the time it took for just four percent of the data to be transferred using a Telkom line. Internet speed and connectivity in Africa’s largest economy are poor because of a bandwidth shortage. It is also expensive, putting it out of reach of many of the local population. Comment is being sought from Telkom. According to Reuters, internet speed is expected to improve in the country once a new 17,000 km underwater fiber optic to other cable linking southern and East Africa to other networks becomes operational before South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup next year. Local service providers are currently negotiating deals for more bandwidth. No word yet either with regards to the entire South African broadband network being replaced with carrier pigeons. |
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