Feature
The village that wired its own fibre network
Tired of waiting for a provider, 300 households dug their own trenches. Five years on, their connection is faster than the capital’s.
World affairs reporter
8 min read
Volunteers laid the last kilometre of cable along an old cart track.
The trench along the cart track is still visible if you know where to look: a line of slightly greener grass running from the church to the last farm on the hill.
It took eleven weekends to dig and it carries the fastest internet connection in the region.
Owned by the people who use it
Each household paid the same fee and gave the same number of working hours. A cooperative owns the cables and sells the spare capacity to two neighbouring villages, which pays for maintenance.
We did not plan to become an internet company. We planned to let the children do their homework at home.
The model has limits. It relies on a handful of people who understand the equipment, and the cooperative’s board has struggled to find younger members.
Copied elsewhere
Nine villages have visited to see how it was done. Two have started digging.
Amara Diallo
World affairs reporter
Amara reports on trade, borders and the places the world economy passes through.
