Connecting the last mile in Africa: A volumetric analysis of internet balloons and rural base stations.
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...
| Publicado en: | Media, Culture & Society Vol. 47; no. 8; pp. 1653 - 1674 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Sage Publications, Ltd.
Nov2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=188884782&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 188884782 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 01634437 MCS jtl: Media, Culture & Society issn: 01634437 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Nov2025 vid: 47 iid: 8 pid: 2171 pub: Sage Publications, Ltd. artinfo: ui: 188884782 10.1177/01634437251351791 ppf: 1653 ppct: 21 formats: tig: atl: Connecting the last mile in Africa: A volumetric analysis of internet balloons and rural base stations. aug: au: Lu, Miao affil: Lingnan University, Hong Kong su: Africa Alphabet Inc. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Rural telecommunication Infrastructure (Economics) Internet Digital divide Geographic spatial analysis Sociotechnical systems Airships sug: subj: Rural telecommunication Infrastructure (Economics) Internet Africa Alphabet Inc. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Aircraft Manufacturing Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals Wired Telecommunications Carriers Digital divide Geographic spatial analysis Sociotechnical systems Airships keyword: base station infrastructure internet balloons last mile volumes base station infrastructure internet balloons last mile volumes ab: 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. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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