They were also required to carry all their equipment for the duration of the ultra-marathon -- from food and sleeping gear to an anti-venom pump and glow sticks -- as they battled with weariness and dehydration whilst snaking their way past rolling dunes, steep-sided uplands, dried-up lakes and abandoned settlements in the hostile heat.

CNN: Winners survive 'toughest race on Earth'

In order to pump up short-term profits, manufacturers of communications gear loaned money to cash-strapped Internet startups so they could buy switches and routers.

FORBES: Japan Throws A Dime To American Debt Junkies

Most of these broadcast-partners lack the know-how or capital to pump their own signals over the Internet, so they're happy to have JumpTV install the gear and give them access to a homesick audience hungry for news and entertainment in their native languages.

FORBES: Internet Television Brings Immigrants Home