Internet Access

Is the south pole the last permanently populated place on earth to have the internet?

No. In reality plenty of places have no internet access. The south pole is about the only place that cannot have it in theory, simply because satellites do not overfly the region regularly and provide reliable access. So scientists want a fibre optic cable that will run over 1670 km of solid ice and provide a permanent, terrestrial communications link from the south pole to a base station on the outer reaches of Antartica.

Where is the internet

In september 1991, back at the birth of the net, only North America, western Europe, Australia, India, Japan, and a smattering of countries in South America and south east Asia were connected, according to an internet census conducted by University of Wisconsin professor, Larry Landweber. By 1997, Landweber's census map showed almost every nation on earth had some sort of connection to the internet.

So it's all equal now?

No. Digital divides exist largely in the areas you would expect them - developed countries tend to have more advanced digital economies than underdeveloped nations. Even within developed nations there are digital divides and areas with quite sophisticated wireless access networks.

What area of the world is the least connected?

Africa. A 2001 map produced by US researchers at the University of Notre Dame compared the locations of internet routers (which direct online traffic) to population density. The US, Japan, South Korea and the whole of Europe dominated internet connections, while heavily populated areas such as India and China barely registered. Central Asia and South America were only lightly represented, while Africa looked mostly blank.

What is the state of the internet in Africa?

From a slow start, today every country in Africa is connected to the internet, according to research and maps put together by Mike Jensen of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). However, that statistic belies the fact that most people in Africa do not have access, and even if they did, the cost would be prohibitive. In Somalia, 20 hours per month of dial-up access would set you back $160.

Of course, some African nations are far more wired than others. The IDRC used bits per capita (bandwidth divided by population) to measure actual internet usage within Africa. They found that the Democratic Republic of Congo, geographically the third largest country in Africa, has a bit per capita measure of .02. The tiny Seychelles islands measure 49.49.

Do you need wires to access the internet?

Not at all. Regions without wire connections, like the phone line you plug into at home or in the office, can rely on satellites for communication connections. Fibre optic cables, though, provide far more bandwidth.

Hundreds of thousands of kilometres of undersea cables have been laid to provide high speed internet and telephone connections across the globe. Those cables port into Africa as well, although the amount of cabling laid throughout Africa pales in comparison to, say, the US or Europe