Connecting the last mile in Africa: A volumetric analysis of internet balloons and rural base stations

Abstract

In the competition to connect the next billion users, Africa’s last mile is becoming a frontier for big tech companies to experiment with new infrastructure ideas. Based on interviews and archival research, this article examines two cases of connecting the last mile through high-latitude balloons in the sky (Google Loon) and rural base stations on the ground (Huawei RuralStar). Following the “volumetric turn,” this article approaches infrastructure as “volumetric practice” to elucidate the politics and promises of the last mile in Africa. Recognizing the agency of various “elements” in the volume – wind, rain, air, and sunlight, this article illustrates ballooning as a socio-technical assemblage of the sky and RuralStar as a flexible object that integrates multiple sources of volumetric knowledge. It argues that the contested nature of last-mile infrastructure is articulated through the navigation, calculation, and commodification of the volumes. While both Google and Huawei articulate techno-optimist views of bridging the digital divide, their unfolding through different technologies presents distinctive sociotechnical imaginaries and knowledge-making dynamics. This article sheds new light on the volumetric competition for the global internet and makes theoretical contributions by introducing a volumetric approach to studying media infrastructure.