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Podcast: Engineering Matters
Episode: #107 Africa: Connecting a Continent
Description: Preparation is currently underway for installation of one of the world’s longest fibre optic communications cables. Survey vessels are circumnavigating the entire coast of Africa determining the best locations for laying the cable on the seabed and bringing it onshore. At around 36,000km long it will provide connectivity to countries throughout the continent and form a critical part of meeting the African Union’s ambition to ensure internet for all by 2030.
Placing it won’t be easy and just like the engineers who placed the first subsea cables in the 1800s, they have to deal with a huge...