Broadband

Community Networks: The Missing Piece in Africa’s Digital Transformation

Community networks can bridge Africa's persistent digital divide by shifting connectivity from infrastructure alone to community ownership, supported by strong governance, sustainable financing and enabling policies that make last-mile access resilient, inclusive and locally driven. more

SpaceX Wants to Handle the World’s Broadband - Here’s Why That’s Unlikely

SpaceX wants to expand Starlink to 100,000 satellites and eventually carry most of the world's internet traffic. Ambition is not the problem. Market competition, geopolitics and the resilience of fiber networks make that goal implausible. more

Why Are We Building 6G?

As 6G development accelerates, its promises of faster speeds, lower latency, and immersive applications raise questions about whether carriers can justify another costly network upgrade when 5G's commercial promises remain largely unfulfilled across the industry. more

Community Networks Offer a Durable Route Across the Digital Divide

An ITU report finds that community-owned networks, backed by reliable technology, flexible financing and supportive regulation, can bring affordable, meaningful internet access to remote populations that traditional providers have struggled to reach at lasting scale. more

Is AI Really Changing Internet Traffic Patterns?

Claims that AI is reshaping internet traffic are gaining attention, but evidence remains mixed as residential ISPs report little change while business networks see steadier demand and faster upstream growth today warrants closer industry scrutiny. more

Can Orbiting Data Centers Solve Terrestrial Deal Breakers?

Orbiting data centers promise cleaner power, cheaper cooling and relief from terrestrial opposition, but formidable engineering, regulatory and orbital governance challenges may keep ambitious space-based computing grounded for years unless launch economics improve dramatically first. more

Network Challenges from AI Traffic

Cisco warns AI traffic will reshape internet infrastructure as inference workloads demand lower latency, stronger upstream capacity and new network architectures, with AI expected to generate one quarter of web traffic by 2035 worldwide eventually. more

IPv4 Market in H1 2026: A Price Reset, Not a Market Collapse

IPv4 transfers accelerated in the first half of 2026, but surging activity masked a decisive pricing reset as average values fell, sellers accepted lower valuations, and the market settled into a more mature equilibrium overall. more

The Economics of SpaceX: Can Starlink Justify a $2 Trillion Valuation?

SpaceX's towering valuation rests less on Starlink's current connectivity economics than on ambitious platform expectations, raising doubts that satellite broadband and mobile services alone can justify trillion-dollar valuations indefinitely despite intensifying competition for investors.
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Why AI Adoption May Become the Defining Digital Divide

As AI reshapes work and daily life, a new digital divide is emerging between those who embrace the technology and those who cannot or will not, with lasting consequences for opportunity, productivity and inequality. more

Africa Does Not Have an Internet Access Problem: It Has an Internet Governance Problem

Africa's digital future depends less on expanding Internet access than on shaping the rules that govern it. Stronger institutions, cybersecurity, and global influence will determine whether the continent becomes a digital leader or remains a dependent consumer. more

The Internet, Beyond a Right: A Critical Infrastructure

As governments, economies and essential services become ever more dependent on connectivity, the internet can no longer be viewed solely as a right. It must be treated as critical infrastructure, protected, regulated and made resilient against disruption. more

Economic Stress Is Testing Broadband’s Recession-Proof Reputation

Mounting signs of consumer distress, from unpaid utility bills to rising loan delinquencies, are raising uncomfortable questions for internet providers about whether broadband remains recession-proof as households increasingly trade home connections for cheaper wireless alternatives. more

Two Ways to Build the Internet in Space - China, Inc. vs Starlink Et Al

Starlink's rapid integrated model contrasts with China's coordinated, multi-constellation strategy, where specialised networks share roles. Though slower to deploy, this system could narrow the gap and reshape global satellite internet competition by 2030 significantly ahead. more

Satellite Industry Heats Up as Amazon, SpaceX and Blue Origin Compete for Orbit

April's satellite sector saw Amazon's $10.8bn Globalstar bid, surging plans for orbital data centres, intensifying SpaceX rivalry, regulatory friction, and doubts over broadband promises, underscoring a crowded, contested race to control next-generation connectivity infrastructure global. more