a local junction box on the cable to the island. The UK government announced in early 2013 that a review of the island's economy would be required before such funding would be agreed. In 2017, St Helena Government (SHG) developed its Digital Strategy, drafted by the Assistant Chief Secretary at the time, Paul McGinnety. The Digital Strategy outlined intentions to connect to a Fibre Optic Cable to achieve developments in Education, Telemedicine and Digital Business. In Brussels the following year, SHG UK Representative, Kedell Worboys, along with Director for Latin America & Caribbean, Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development, Jolita Butkeviciene, signed a Financing Agreement for the Territorial Allocation of the 11th European Development Fund (EDF 11). As a result, €21.5 million was allocated to St Helena to support the delivery of the SHG Digital Strategy through the realisation of the submarine cable to enable faster and more reliable internet connectivity on the Island. On Christmas Eve in 2019, SHG announced that they had signed a contract with Google to land a branch of the Equiano Cable, named after Olaudah Equiano, an African writer who had been enslaved as a child. The main trunk of the cable will connect South Africa with Portugal. The press release explained that the branch between the main trunk of the Equiano cable and the Island will be 1,140 km long and that the target is to deliver the cable and associated high-speed Internet to St Helena by early 2022; providing the cable laying, landing station and associated planning permissions and works to start the service proceed on time. The landing of the Fibre Optic Cable will help to develop the satellite ground station and remote work jobs, as was set out in St Helena's 2018 Sustainable Economic Development Plan. The Labour Market Strategy also set out the willingness to attract digital nomads to live and work on St Helena. In July 2019, the government advised that it had signed "a letter of intent to connect St Helena to the Equiano subsea cable project" to get "the first fibre-optic connectivity", perhaps "as early as August 2021". A report published by a technology industry magazine, in March 2020, discussed the "dissatisfaction of many on the island with the quality of service" and the cost. The article also warned that removing the monopoly from the current operator would be difficult and expensive. If the dispute between the