A South African information technology outfit has proved it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it using the country's leading ISP. Internet speed and connectivity in Africa's largest economy are pants because of a bandwidth shortage. You also pay a lot for very bad connections. (Sounds a lot like Bosnia, but in Bosnia we've still got institutionalized apartheid. sub.ed.)

A technology company called Unlimited IT was so frustrated with the speed of its email that it hired an 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, to carry data 80 km from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban. As Winston flapped off the company sent the data down a Telkom line. Two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds later Winston had arrived and was being rewarded with his favourite biscuits but only four per cent of the four per cent of the data had been transferred.

Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times. The company has 11 call-centres around the country and regularly sends data to its other branches.

Telkom could not immediately be reached for comment. Internet speed is expected to improve once a new 17,000km underwater fibre-optic cable linking southern and East Africa to other networks becomes operational before South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup next year.