![]() ![]() Weaving together archival material, interviews, observations, autoethnographic considerations, and speculative storytelling, this thesis reflects on the internet’s contentious mediation of reality, proposing a mode of research on media technologies that operates from a relational networked proximity. This thesis centers on a critical interdisciplinary research on the Atlantis-2 submarine cable and its landing site in Conil, a small coastal town in the south of Spain, seeking to understand the material environments, geopolitical contexts, and social relations in which the internet’s material infrastructure is embedded. It analyzes di erent modes of data centre infrastructural (in)visibility and shows how imaginaries became in uential both for implementing the cloud in Luleå and for shaping the anticipated time and space of “post-extractive modernity.” More speci cally, the paper focuses on the socio-technical preconditions as well as the concrete prac- tices and styles-that is, technologies of imagination-that enable those imaginaries. is paper is based on an ethnographic study that followed the implementation of Facebook’s rst European data centre in Luleå. Since the actual name and operations of the IT company were kept entirely secret, the planning and implementation of “Project Gold”-as the data centre project was called locally-was as much driven by collective imaginaries as by hard facts or former experiences. Such anticipa- tions were supported and shaped by municipal planning and business management activities soon materializing in the form of building sites, regional development strategies, and new markets. TEAMsĨ5 per cent of the cable is owned by TEAMs (Kenya) Ltd and the rest by Etisalaat of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).When a world-leading IT company expressed the intention to locate its infrastructure in the Swedish city of Luleå in 2011, the announcement immediately triggered future scenarios and visions of a new industrial era, economic prosperity, and changing urban life. Other investors in the system include Bharti Airtel Limited of India, British Telecommunications, Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates, France Telecom, Mauritius Telecom, Saudi Telecom Company, Comores Telecom, Sudan Telecom Company, Tanzania Telecommunications Company, Telecom Malagasy, Zambia Telecommunications Company, Zanzibar Telecom. WIOCC consortium members include: Botswana Telecommunications Corporation, Dalkom Somalia, Djibouti Telecom, Gilat Satcom Nigeria Ltd., the Government of Seychelles, the Lesotho Telecommunications Authority, ONATEL Burundi, Telkom Kenya Ltd., Telecommunicacões de Mocambique (TDM), U-COM Burundi, Uganda Telecom Ltd., Zantel Tanzania and most recently, TelOne Zimbabwe and Libyan Post, Telecom and Information Technology Company (LPTIC) WIOCC, an SPV created to facilitate open access is the largest shareholder, with 29%. South African investors in EASSY include Telkom/Vodacom ($18.9 million), MTN ($40.3 million), and Neotel (~$11 million). This is a smaller amount than the originally advertised $120 million investment from DFIs. Total DFI investment is apparently $70.7 million, with $18.2 million coming from IFC, 14.5 million from AfDB. Shanduka Group (12.5%) – USD 37.5 millionĮASSy is 90% African-owned although that ownership is underwritten by a substantial investment by Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) including World Bank/IFC, EIB, AfDB, AFD, and KfW.Convergence Partners (12,5%) – USD 37.5 million.Herakles Telecom LLC (backed by Blackstone) (25%), New York-based lead company, no website (USD 75 million).(Kenya – founded by Prince Karim Aga Khan IV of Pakistan) VenFin Limited (25%) – USD 75 million).Industrial Promotion Services (25%), an arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (USD 75 million).Undersea Cable Ownership Matrix African Undersea Cable Investor Matrix Investor Finally, for a more comprehensive look at undersea cables, check out Telegeography’s Submarine Cable Map. You may also be interested in NSRC‘s map of African Terrestrial Fibre initiatives at. If you’re interested in seeing how these cables are changing access, Stanford University’s PINGer project is monitoring the impact of Seacom and other east coast cables as they come online. Please contact me if you’d like a copy of the map in SVG format.įor a history of African undersea cables, have a look at animated gif history. African Undersea Cables in 2023 – maybe (Version 54) ![]()
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