The trouble with telecom

Last night I hosted a going away party for my friend David and his partner Sarah. David, who is the person who harassed me until I started this blog, has now informed me that I am in grave, grave danger for my long absence from posting. So, like a chastened student, I will post:

Still with Kenya on my mind, and thinking about all the things that contribute to development...one thing I learned from that recent trip was the really crucial role communications technologies play in just getting things done. I'm not talking anything fancy, but just being able to place a phone call makes all the difference.

Several years ago I complained to a friend that while I was pretty good at travelling, the one thing that completely baffles me is telecom on the road. Figuring out how to use a pay phone (this was before cell phones) and what numbers to dial is one of those undocumented pieces of local lore. Sure, the Lonely Planet has some tips, but they're not always current. These days, I have given up trying. I buy my local sim, pop it in my phone, and then go up to a stranger and hold out the phone with the simple words, "can you please help me?" I'll hand them the local number and ask them what I need to dial. In some places (Kyryzstan comes to mind), the prefix you have to dial varies depending on the recipient's cell carrier. Which means when you get someone's phone number, you have to ask them whose sim they have. If you live there long enough, you start to recognize the prefixes as proprietary to one carrier or another. But if you're in the country for 3 or 4 days, it's not exactly a transparent process.

So in Kenya, while cell phones are popular, the cost of making a call is still prohibitive. Something on the order of US$0.30 per minute.That's cell to cell. Go from cell to landline and the cost skyrockets. So much for the promise of leapfrogging technologies. A person doing research there said that the sheer economic barrier of making a call means she makes choices every day about what kind of things don't have to get done that day. And it's not like everyone is checking email all the time. And it's not like Nairobi is so quick and easy to navigate across town that face-to-face communications are the answer.

And as for Internet, leaving aside South Africa, there's no cable connection in sub-Saharan Africa for Internet connectivity. It's all satellite, which means it's all ridiculously, horrifyingly expensive. That's old news to many of my colleagues, I know. But I still think it bears repeating.