Spaceloon - Africa consortium for near space communication

From site:

Spaceloon was created as the common face of a consortium of companies operating in Africa that seeks a cheaper than satellite approach to communication. Our target is to provide ubiquitous wireless coverage to Africa at the cheapest price possible. We believe the time is now to deploy such spacial technology to enable the continent to leap frog into the 21st century.

Internet revolution in Africa

Great article on Africa's internet growth prospects. The SAT 3 cable and soon to be built Eassy Cable, will hopefully lower costs of connecting and conducting commerce on the continent.

From Global Advances

Bandwith to Africa is expected to grow dramatically as the continent is gaining internet connectivity faster than any other region in the world.

Africa’s online population now exceeds 50 million, according to an estimate published by Internet World Stats, an internet research and statistics website. This marks a 1000% increase since 2000 and continued exponential growth is expected. Although this figure only represents a 5.3% internet penetration rate on the African continent, compared with nearly 25% worldwide, the actual number of internet users may be six to eight times larger due to the growth of internet cafes and various other multi-person access points.

Fibre for Africa - Opening up Affordable Bandwidth in Africa

Fibre for Africa

Opening up Affordable Bandwidth in Africa

From the site:

This web site has been put together to provide basic information about international bandwidth in Africa, its costs and the existence of monopoly access to it. Bandwidth is the means through which Africa as a continent communicates with itself and the rest of the world. Those who have put the site together believe that the high costs of international bandwidth on the continent are an obstacle to the its social and economic development.

Image: Telecoms transmissions networks in Africa, Source: Paul Hamilton, Acacia Atlas, IDRC