July 9, 2006
African Telephone Wire Baskets
Ethan Zuckerman, on why wired telephony in Africa is such a basket case. A beautiful article, and a look at telcos in Africa from another angle.
"Some of the most striking pieces of contemporary African art you’ll find are the colorful Zulu imbenge baskets that are woven from “recycled” telephone wire. They’re featured in online stores and celebrated in art books.
But throughout the continent, fixed network operators are reporting significant losses from “vandalism” to their cables, both those buried beneath the ground and those hanging from poles. These thefts have two costs for telcos - the cost of repairing infrastructure, and the lost revenue costs from being unable to delivery calls on lines that have, literally, been cut.
... I’m not accusing the artisans who build the beautiful baskets like the one pictured above of cutting phonelines for profit - my understanding is that many Zulu artists began buying phone wire from suppliers as the art form became more popular - but it strikes me that the baskets are a powerful symbol of just how difficult it can be to build community infrastructure in places where there’s so much individual need."
[Ethan Zuckerman via boingbong]
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