In South Africa, it's pigeon one, broadband zero (for now)

The strange but true story of a carrier pigeon that transfers data faster than broadband.

Last week a company called Unlimited IT demonstrated that, in South Africa anyway, transferring data the old fashioned way is still the best.

An eleven-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly 80 km from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card strapped to his leg.

Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds -- the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using the broadband line.

Local news agency SAPA reported that Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times.

The carrier pigeon’s championship status is secure for the time being, but in coming weeks service providers will be tapping into a new undersea cable that will give end users access to much faster connections, so odds are Winston will soon lose his crown.

The Seacom cable, which has recently gone live and is available for service providers to access, can deliver up to 1.28 Tbps of capacity to landing stations in South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya, and will dramatically improve connectivity for people living in these areas.

Championship pigeon aside, faster broadband speeds and more penetration will bring real economic benefits to people living in these countries. According to a World Economic Forum report published in July, “Raising broadband penetration in emerging markets to levels currently in Western Europe could add $300 to $420 billion in GDP and create 10 to14 million new jobs.”

And that ain’t chicken feed.

Do you think Winston will still be the data-transfer champion of South Africa by the end of 2009? Will South Africa’s service providers be prepared when their country hosts the Soccer World Cup in 2010? We’d like to hear from you. Please register below to share your opinion with the rest of our readers.

ICT for Economic Growth: A Dynamic Ecosystem Driving The Global Recovery, a publication of the World Economic Forum, July 2009.

Source: http://unite.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/adwords/article/view/id/181