African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1103: Chapter 112: The World’s Second Largest Submarine Cable Network

While the East African Government was contemplating extortion from the United Kingdom, Russell used the convenient communication network to explain the East African Government’s stance to London.

Once the messages were all sent, Russell couldn’t help but express to his subordinates: ”Considering just communication technology and its widespread use, East Africa is already quite powerful!”

His assistant, Robinson, said: ”In terms of communication, East Africa stands on the same level as Europe and North America. Europe’s communication is the most developed, and North America is not far behind. As for the entire African continent, it is mainly East Africa on its own that has elevated this land to a higher level than it once was.”

East Africa established quite an advanced telegraph and telephone network as early as the last century and formed a national telegraph network in the eighties. Of course, East Africa had not yet occupied lands like Angola and Mozambique at the time.

In the nineties, East Africa not only made huge breakthroughs in telecommunication technology but also began the promotion of radio. Meanwhile, telegraph and telephone technology were upgraded again, and due to reasons like territorial restructuring and economic development, East Africa experienced a boom in communications industry construction.

Domestically, East Africa conducted large-scale communications construction in regions like Angola, Mozambique, and Orange. In the eastern and central zones, existing lines were upgraded and refitted, while communications cables were swiftly laid in other underdeveloped regions, especially Northern East Africa.

By the early 20th century, during the first two industrial plans of East Africa, they began deploying independent overseas undersea cables.

The most typical are the undersea cables between the West Coast and Western Europe, and the two lines directly connecting East Africa to the Far East.

The main purpose of the West Coast undersea cable deployment was to connect with the Western European region, with Spain and France serving as entry points, thereby establishing a second undersea cable line to Europe.

On the East Coast, East Africa also directly established a cable line to the Far East Empire, traversing the Indian Ocean, and connecting through the Lanfang Overseas Province with the Far East Empire and other East African colonies, ultimately reaching Alaska, which, relative to East Africa, also belongs to the Far East.

Besides, there were specific subsidiary lines connecting the Middle East, India, Australia, and other areas, which also revealed East Africa’s strategic layout in the entire Indian Ocean region.

Up to now, East Africa is planning the construction of direct undersea cables to regions like South America and North America. The cable to South America’s Haiti has already begun construction, so contact between East Africa and South American countries will become closer at that time.

In the field of communications, East Africa is actually playing a global game, quickly forming a submarine cable network centered on East Africa.

This is actually learning from the United Kingdom government, which was one of the earliest to recognize the role of submarine cables in political and military fields.

As a great colonial power, the United Kingdom’s overseas colonies were spread all over the world, so it had an urgent demand for communication technology, constantly building communication networks to connect the homeland and overseas colonies. In the process, the British discovered other uses of submarine cables and had been strategically planning in this field since the mid-last century.

Now, after decades have passed, the United Kingdom still firmly holds the largest and most complete submarine cable network in the world. Even with numerous competitors emerging, it is difficult for them to offset the UK’s first-mover advantage.

The earlier the construction, the more customers one holds, plus the inertia of information exchange will continually strengthen this advantage, especially apparent in the realm of commercial trade.

Of course, facing the UK’s communication hegemony, other great powers in the world will not choose to remain passive. East Africa, the United States, France, and Germany, among others, will all build alternative solutions centered around their own countries.

Ernst foresaw this outcome early on, and during the early formation of the East African Countries, he began laying the groundwork in related fields, which has now yielded substantial benefits for East Africa. Though the submarine cable network’s scale cannot yet compare with the UK, it has initiated the completion of the world’s second-largest submarine cable network led by East Africa.

Once the South and North America submarine cables are completed, East Africa will have initially crafted a second interconnection network across most of the globe centered around its own nation.

Moreover, aside from the telegraph industry, East Africa has also seized the initiative in telephone and radio communication fields, further amplifying its advantages.

In the communication realm, especially regarding submarine cable laying, the geographical position of East African Countries holds significant advantage. The African Continent sits intriguingly within the global structure.

The African Continent is located beneath the Europe and Asia continent, crossing the equator, occupying a large area in both the northern and southern hemispheres, making it an indispensable part in undersea cable laying.

For instance, the UK’s submarine cables achieved connections to regions like India through the Red Sea and Cape of Good Hope, completely circumnavigating the African Continent.

Yet, East Africa stands as the core of the African Continent, enabling it to radiate to other parts of the world with diminished interference. On this basis, the East African Government built the world’s second-largest submarine cable network.

Thus, East Africa’s ability to acquire information from various global regions remains quite convenient, and this telecommunications network is almost impossible for the British to sever.

The need to mention the United Kingdom arises mainly because, in a previous life during World War I, the UK had such a precedent. After World War I broke out, the UK government severed the main undersea cable between Germany and the United States, causing communication delays between the two.

Using its geographical advantage, the United Kingdom nearly controlled telecommunications from the Northern Europe region. Countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Russia were influenced to a certain extent by the UK.

This information advantage indeed provided substantial assistance to the UK during World War I in a previous life, influencing the United States’ attitude towards Germany significantly.

After Britain severed the direct connection between Germany and the United States, Germany’s information transmitted via Britain was under the UK government’s surveillance. Meanwhile, the UK could leverage its public opinion advantage to incite disgust towards Germany within American society, facilitating the United States’ eventual entry into the war.

Though the US government’s decision to enter the war was guided by national interest, the manipulation of public sentiment was certainly stirred by the British, who knew well that the US had a significant population of German origin. Without the provocation of public opinion warfare, these individuals would undoubtedly exert a huge impact on a democratically elected US government.

Putting other factors aside, from the experience of the East African Government, East African people would naturally harbor a certain level of goodwill towards the German Region in Europe or the Far East Empire.

Therefore, extrapolating this idea, in a previous life, the largest immigrant group in the US, the German immigrants, if not deceived, clearly played a significant role in the American public opinion.

The UK’s ability to steer such a public opinion offensive against the American populace and shift the crux of war blame onto Germany—to garner American sympathy for the Allies led by the UK—fundamentally lies in directly severing the communication between the United States and Germany.

To avoid East Africa falling into the plight of Germany from the previous life, and for individuals like Ernst, who constantly prioritize national security, constructing a world communication network free from British interference becomes extraordinarily crucial.

Moreover, this network construction greatly aids East Africa’s influence over public opinion in European areas. During East Africa’s industrial construction period, the East African Government leveraged the communications network to implement a degree of ”stigmatization” towards East Africa, which indeed affected how European countries viewed East Africa.

During East Africa’s vigorous development, many Europeans, due to the East African Government’s public opinion warfare, lacked a correct understanding of East Africa. Not just abroad, but even within East Africa, there was some impact, creating an illusion of East Africa being akin to India.

Of course, the East African Government would not promote excessively, more so covering up the radical development status of the nation. If East Africa, like the Soviet Union in a previous life, were to publicize its own industrial achievements, it could achieve a similar effect but at the risk of backlash.