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Sea Change
Article

Sea Change

Google and Meta’s new subsea cables mark a tectonic shift in how the internet works, and who controls it.

Andrew Blum and Carey Baraka
Rest of World, 2022
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Overview
  • Engaging

Recommendation

When you increase the speed of the internet, all kinds of new initiatives become possible, and Africa has been living with subpar internet conditions for a long time. So when wealthy US-based tech companies offer to provide faster internet speeds through undersea fiber-optic cables, leaders of African nations can’t really turn them down. But how will these cables be connected, what will it mean for the average citizen and how will infrastructure from US companies influence Africa’s future? Andrew Blum and Carey Baraka describe Africa’s journey to a more connected future in this Rest of World article.

Take-Aways

  • Google and Meta want to bring better internet access to Africa, a move that will likely add billions of dollars and millions of jobs to the continent.
  • Traditional telecom companies in Africa will continue to provide last-mile access to inland customers.
  • It’s unclear whether public policy will be able to curb the power of private companies when they control the infrastructure of a vital public resource like the internet.

About the Authors

Andrew Blum is a New York-based writer whose work has appeared in Time, WIRED and Popular Science. His books include Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet and The Weather Machine: A Journey Inside the Forecast. Carey Baraka is a writer from Kisumu, Kenya. His work covering topics from literary culture to politics has been featured in the Johannesburg Review of Books, Electric Literature and Foreign Policy.

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