Google Aims to Bring Broadband To Africa > LMAO

LMAO

Uhhh, America is not paying for this, the companies listed above are paying for this. Google can spend their profits wherever they wish, and if they can make money using THEIR money, well, good for them. The poster above pretty much spelled it out for you to understand: Investment leads to more development which leads to a better economy overall.

reply to Duramax08
actually Africa is abundant in natural resources, there are many wealthy centers From Dakar to Botswana to Djibouti but since you dont know what you are talking about I'll will let you slide, why dont you read what I wrote above.

Botswana?

Botswana is better off than most areas - but it's only the rich that benefit from and own the diamond mines. Not to mention that half of the diamond mines are owned by the government. The rest of the nation is poor. The HIV/AIDS rate is something like 1 in 5 - AND it's one of the "better off" parts of South Africa.

Yet somehow broadband will help these people out....give me a break. Their government takes in billions a year from diamonds, coal and pretty soon uranium....but 20%+ of the population will not make it to 40 years of age due to lack of health care, unsanitary living conditions, and rampant disease.

Yeah...go HSBC and Google!

Install fast internet. Help the 419 scammers. I may open up an internet shop and help impoverished people access the internet....1 chicken/hour. What? You can't afford that? Well it's gotta make someone money.

Oh...and while your at it, make them touch screens and speak....because the lack of education means that a good percentage of the population would be better using the computer case a hunting utensil.

I may be cynical, but i'm holding back my opinions on this because this isn't the place for it. I just don't see how a faster internet connection (or new) will help the people in South Africa who actually need it.

While I do see your point and it is valid, I still disagree. You obviously have more experience than I do.

Comparing broadband to natural gas pipeline is apples and oranges. You could get someone to install a heater with the natural gas pipeline - and the people would benefit.

What about internet? "Free WiFi!". Now what when no one has a PC? Oh, free "Internet terminals"? Oh....they would need to be able to read. I am not in any way diminishing anyone's intelligence or insinuating that every person of the nation is illiterate, but it's almost a requirement for using a PC.

While in the long haul, it may pay off - but I only see it benefiting those who have money currently. At the prices, and a median income of around $16,000 (source: wikipedia) - who can currently afford an internet connection? I couldn't, and I make significantly more than that.

Ok, so now instead of $200/mo, it's $100/mo. "The People" still can't afford it....

You think this will cause, lets say, and internet cafe to lower it's prices? I highly doubt it.

While Natural Gas, Water and Phones (cell in this case) are considered "basic utility", the Internet is not. I would rather see a company invest in a water filtration system (several do - I'm talking about Google/HSBC) then Internet connections.

But that is the point more infrastructure means more people will learn to read, more fiber means more electricity to run pump stations etc...

The first businesses to go up after the fall of Baghdad were internet cafes with cheap old recycled PCs.

This investment pays off, and very well, HSBC and Google are not altruistic organizations, they know what they are doing.

They did this in China, India, South America and now moving to Africa. Sure, it will take time, but trust me or the experts at Google or HSBC, these ventures pay off. First will come cheap TV, then people will attend schools in one or two generations it will be the next cheap labor market, semi-skilled, literate and connected.
--
"He who is not afraid today to say 'no' to the repressive machinery of a criminal bureaucracy earns the right to be called a Human Being."
»lp.org/
Zion is our milk

reply to Duramax08
Could you be an even bigger tool? Let me guess, you didn't make it past the 10th grade in the wonderful TX public school system.

Judging from your icon you have some sort of right-aligned political agenda. OK. I'll bite. If anything, providing any sort of assistance improving the infrastructure in Africa and helping people meets basic human needs (food/shelter/health care) *helps* your right wing nut-job ideas/objections. How, you ask? Well, as the previous poster so eloquently indicated, stabilizing the continent in this manner helps the African populous become more self reliant and less likely to go along with Mr. Bin Laden and allow training camps or extremist view to thrive. We won't have to keep throwing money in a hole if we teach a man to fish, in other words. Increase the basic human living standards and economies of Africa, and you end up with a much less fertile ground for terrorists and extremists to take root (a la Somalia, etc.).

-Pedro

reply to cooperaaaron
o well, google can always boost our economy.

reply to pe34859120
Heres some answers for u. I just graduated this summer for high school as a texas scholar, So I did graduate from the wonderful texas public school system. My icon that you can see on the left is osama and obama. I got it on there because it looks cool and I dont really care about your opinion. I think that google should maybe use that money here so we can extend our broadband network via lines on telephone poles then wasting it on some little place that I would consider rural.

Also, It looks like you are not a registered user. Why not register? Then we can continue this conversation.

I don't need to register to continue a conversation on the internet (ROTFL). Someone your age should realize that.

Your rather myopic and naive comments prove my point. What sort of basic economics were you taught as a 'scholar'(?) Clearly the above poster's logic escapes you regarding how something so basic as providing running water or electricity to an African village could actually affect you so far away.

If you are voting age already contact your local politicians to start voting against the local monopolies who don't want any sort of competing technlogies rolled out. My basic understanding of the limitations of BPL is that the radio interference problem has not yet been adquately addressed, and that the cost/benefit is currently too high to make it practical on any sort of decent scale. There are some useful comments in the following threads-
»news.cnet.com/Broadbands-power-l···316.html

»techdirt.com/articles/20080503/2···23.shtml

reply to cooperaaaron
keep living in your dream world the economy is never going to get better if gas prices keep on going up.the only economy this will help is google,and i seriously doubt it will help them

reply to chlen
BTW this is not just my opinion, it is from my dissertation for my MS in Public Policy and Information Management. My job is to make sure these kinds of projects work in rural US which faces the same type of basic problems that are in Africa.

yea you have done a great job in rural America (not)give all Americans access to dsl or cable first then provide internet to whom ever you want to after that

reply to pepe321734934
look i could care less about Africa,and their people.how can you use the internet if you don't have power,computers or the know how to do it.big fucking waste of money spend it here in America on their own fucked up rural internet

reply to chlen

reply to chlen
BTW this is not just my opinion, it is from my dissertation for my MS in Public Policy and Information Management. My job is to make sure these kinds of projects work in rural US which faces the same type of basic problems that are in Africa.

yea you have done a great job in rural america (not)give all americans access to dsl or cable first then provide internet to whom ever you want to after that