It's heeeeeeere!
According to just about every news outlet on the planet, SEACOM has flipped the switch to ignite high speed internet in East Africa. As someone who spent much of her first days in the country hunting for a fast connection like a Masai warrior hunts for lions, I am overjoyed. The fact that I have been able to video-chat and upload my stories from a coffee shop in Dagoretti Corner is impressive, but imagine being able to use...gasp!...SKYPE! The future Medillians' phone bills from Nairobi will be far less painful.
Of course, Kenya is taking its sweet time hopping on the high-speed bandwagon, as Kenya tends to do. Just ask anyone dodging the crater-sized holes on the side of Ngong Road. Someday, we're told, internet cables will line those holes. But as with so many things in this country, the capacity is there and the infrastructure...oooh, the infrastructure.
Once the cable installation is finished in Nairobi (2012?), it's hard to say how much of an impact it will have on the average citizen's pocketbook. But one thing that should be discussed when it comes to this high-speed hooplah is how it will affect the media.
If I had to guess, I'd say only good can come of this. The online sites for newspapers like Nation and The Standard are filled with broken links and yesterday's news. And the station I work for doesn't even have a website. A youtube channel that got updated in 2008? Yes. But a website? No.
I've told stories of "the death of newspapers" over dinners here, and no one can believe it. But perhaps with greater access and faster connectivity, Kenya too will join the new media world.
Time will tell, and if I know Kenya, it's gonna be awhile...
