In recent decades, international connectivity has improved significantly with the worldwide deployment of some 400 fiber submarine cables (SMCs), transmitting more than 99% of international telecommunications. If sub-Saharan African (SSA) has long remained excluded from this interconnection process, the maritime infrastructure network has recently densified and spurred an African connectivity catch-up. This paper estimates the impact of SMC deployment on the digital divide in a sample of 45 SSA countries covering the period of 1990–2014. Difference in differences (DID) estimations are conducted and highlight the particular contribution of SEACOM and EASSy cables, laid in 2009–2010, to Internet penetration in Eastern and Southern Africa. According to DID estimates, the rollout of these SMCs has yielded a 3–5 percentage point increase in Internet penetration rates in this region compared to the rest of SSA. This is a remarkable advancement, since this variation corresponds approximately to the level of Internet penetration in the subcontinent prior to their arrival.

近几十年来，随着全球约 400 条海底光缆 (SMC) 的部署，国际连接得到了显着改善，传输了 99% 以上的国际电信。如果说撒哈拉以南非洲地区 (SSA) 长期以来一直被排除在这一互联过程之外，那么海上基础设施网络最近变得更加密集并刺激了非洲互联互通的追赶。本文估计了 SMC 部署对 1990 年至 2014 年期间 45 个 SSA 国家样本中数字鸿沟的影响。进行了差异 (DID) 估计，并强调了 2009-2010 年铺设的 SEACOM 和 EASSy 电缆对东部和南部非洲互联网普及率的特殊贡献。根据 DID 的估计，与 SSA 其他地区相比，这些 SMC 的推出使该地区的互联网普及率提高了 3-5 个百分点。这是一个了不起的进步，因为这种变化大约对应于他们到达之前次大陆的互联网渗透水平。