INTERNET BIRTH: “That’s How the Internet Started in Ghana — Just 10 Lines” — Prof. Quaynor Reveals

Today, getting online in Ghana can be as simple as pulling out a smartphone, tapping a screen and switching on mobile data.

But in the early days, there was no 4G, no Wi-Fi, no fibre broadband and certainly no unlimited data.

There were 10 telephone lines.

Yes, just 10.

That was the unlikely beginning of Ghana’s journey into the internet age, according to internet pioneer in Africa Professor Nii Narku Quaynor, who took Kafui Dey back to the early 1990s to recount how Ghana first connected to the global network.

“The first flow of traffic was around ’93,” Professor Quaynor recalled.

But this was far from the internet experience Ghanaians know today.

Quaynor explained that they were fortunate to secure 10 telephone lines at a location in Ghana.

“And that was enough to get the thing started,” he said.

Kafui Dey could hardly believe it.

“Just 10 lines?”

Quaynor’s answer was simple.

“Just 10 lines.”

Then came the line that put the scale of the moment into perspective:

“That’s how the internet started in Ghana.”

A connection that had to be switched on and off

Those 10 telephone lines were not providing the kind of seamless connectivity people take for granted today.

One line was used for the international dial-up connection, while the others helped support the local network.

But there was one major obstacle: money.

International connectivity was expensive, and keeping the connection running continuously was simply not affordable.

So the internet had to operate in shifts.

Quaynor explained that the international connection would run for roughly four hours before being switched off for another four hours.

“We could not sustain the money,” he said.

For today’s generation, the idea of having to ration internet access because of the cost may sound almost unimaginable.

But in those early days, even a few hours of international connectivity represented a major technological breakthrough.

And what were people doing online?

Email.

That was one of the major applications at the time.

People could connect, send messages and receive information from across the world — something that was revolutionary in an era when communication across borders could take considerably longer.

Quaynor was part of the process, helping to move information through this fledgling network and demonstrating what this new technology could make possible.

Looking back, the setup may sound primitive.

But revolutions rarely begin looking like revolutions.

Sometimes they begin with 10 telephone lines, an expensive international connection and a group of people determined to see whether the impossible could work.