The light pipes under our feet

In most corporations, people, communication and knowledge are few clicks away. Clients and service providers no longer have to be on the same location because of the availability of fiber optic. Fiber connections allowed vendors and clients to transmit data and enjoy instantaneous communication from different parts of the world.

Apparently, use of fiber emerged in 1980s, solving a major problem of signal degradation/loss experienced when working with copper to transfer data over networks.  Copper networks needed repeaters to boost their signals after a distance of 100m, approximately 320 feet. For instance it would be 4 - 8 times (copper 1000mbps, fiber 4 – 8gpbs) faster to back up data from a server to a SUN unit with fiber connectivity.

This means with the speed of 4 – 8gpbs, an equivalent of 25000 pictures or 25 hours of video will be backed up faster on a fiber based than copper network.

Now, everyone will agree we need a strand of one “light Pipe” to our houses or offices, I mean who doesn’t love high internet speeds, transmitting gigabytes of files in seconds or perhaps buffering online videos in a flash! If we really have this appetite for fiber then why don’t we fully utilize this capacity of data at our disposal? 

In January 2011, Rwanda completed work on its 2,300 km cable at a cost of $60 million, Korea Telecom laid the fiber. Tanzania is still working on their 10,000 km cable at a cost of approximately $170 million; Burundi on the other hand got a grant of $10.5 million to lay 1300km of cable. Uganda too acquired a Chinese loan of about $102 million to lay 2100 km long of cable.  Compared to the four countries, Kenya’s private sector has been on the fore front of laying fiber in the country, by June 2010, they had laid 5000km of cable; the government is also investing $60 million in a fiber cable of its own.

These five partners have invested in terrestrial fiber optic to build a large interconnected region on the continent. With all these cables do we have enormous data capacity to utilize them or local telecom companies just installed extra strands in metropolitan areas as a concern against future capacity shortages? Or did the private sector especially in Kenya invest too much to prepare for the much anticipated internet explosion which has led to the growth of dark fiber in the country that is not lit (industry jargon for operating).

What happens to the unlit strands! What if they become obsolete before we completely utilize them? Think about the much turbulence of technology, innovation of lasers that will definitely leap beyond the capabilities of already installed fibers. Let’s hope businesses will grow and more fiber capacity will be needed, at that time the unlit fiber will be used to sustain the next wave of growth.

Green electronics

The explosion of high tech laptops, notebooks, smartphones, tablets and other ‘toys’ is creating a worrying trend to the environment conservationists – electronic scrap or what is now being referred to as ‘e-waste’.

Newer, faster and more efficient gadgets are being introduced at a very fast pace. How long do you stay with your old device before catching up with new technology? Three years? Eight? Once you upgrade and get a newer device, how do you dispose of your old one?

Once thrown in the garbage, electronics are collected and trashed at dumpsites, where they are smashed, burned until everything that was once safely ensconced inside spills out and over the course of months, years, and decades, moves into the air, ground, and water.

For instance, in Accra children smash up old computers, tare them apart then burn them to reveal the wires inside. They would later sell these wires to metal buyers as copper. These children got sick, vomited and experienced headaches due to fumes from the burning wires. After which, ashes containing lead, a neurotoxin and cadmium which damages lungs and kidneys is littered on the ground and washed away to the ocean when it rains.

When a single cellphone lies around on the ground, is not a concern. But when billions of these are disposed, they tend to release large doses of chemicals (like Colton in cellphones) to the ground which becomes a health hazard. Critical health concerns such as cancer have been linked to this, for example premature aging and defected damaged genes caused by chemicals which altered DNA structure of workers in China.

In Kenya e-waste is piling up though not as much as in the US, due to the way old and unloved electronics are handled locally. For instance, institutions like “Computer for Schools Kenya” in collaboration with the city council of Nairobi started a plant to recycle old CRT monitors as a way of managing e-waste.

The number of cellphones and PCs that are trashed is overwhelming, mostly cellphones because Kenyan market is flooded with lots of Chinese models that are cheap and tossed once they get spoilt, same to PCs.

Initially before the world environmental laws from organizations like “Greenpeace international” stood firm to control e-waste, there existed unregulated trade in dumping electronics. This is when electronic corporations like Nokia, started making durable handsets that are free from brominated compounds, chlorinated flame retardants and antimony trioxide. Some of the other corporations include Samsung, Phillips, Apple, Sony among others.

Ultimately, Kenya begins to understand the dangers that come from hazardous materials which lay inside electronics. In 2010, Hewlett Packard made a move and established the HP East Africa Computer Recycling plant in Kenya. Located in Mombasa, this facility assesses IT waste for re-use and refurbish if appropriate. The long-term aim of the facility is to capture up to 20 per cent of IT e-waste in Kenya.

In Kenya, the National Environmental Management Association (NEMA) drafted laws in 2008 to guide against e-waste in the country. Since then, citizens have been patronized to have strong green principles towards e-waste from conferences and seminars organized by the body with support from the government.

In order to reduce e – waste in the country, a second solution calls for users to sell their used up but functioning electronics on online classified ad sites, or donate them to a responsible local charity or organization. Navtej Dhadialla, an Apple maniac from CIO East Africa, disposes his old gadgets by selling them off to local stores.