FOA president chronicles training trip through Africa

Jim Hayes, president of The Fiber Optic Association, posted on the FOA website a summary of his recent trip to three African countries during which he, other FOA personnel, and professionals based in Africa provided fiber-optic training.

The training sessions took place May 9 in Johannesburg, South Africa; May 17 in Nairobi, Kenya; and May 20 in Lusaka, Zambia. In his journal-style summary of the trip, Hayes noted, "As one of the fastest growing markets for telecommunications, Africa is planning the installation of more fiber-optic infrastructure and needs trained technicians to perform the design, installation and maintenance work necessary ... Our visits to South Africa, Kenya and Zambia gave us a view into the variations in developments in Africa, with SA being on a par with the U.S., Europe or the Asian rim countries, Kenya rapidly building infrastructure and Zambia in an earlier stage of development."

He noted that many submarine cables reach African shores, and the current need is to build infrastructure within the continent and distribute it for general use.

Rather than copy or paraphrase Hayes's writing, I'll encourage you to read it for yourself here on the FOA website. Doing so will also give you an opportunity to see all the photos from the FOA's trip to Africa as well as to find other items and resources on that site. The "report from Africa" is part of the FOA's June online newsletter, which also includes an article that asks if telecom is dead, information about the new FOA iPad app, news about Corning running out of fiber and more.