Sumba Weavers Sell Tenun Online via Internet Access

The change is being reinforced by infrastructure build-out. Local communications data show 96 BAKTI Komdigi BTS towers across 22 districts in East Sumba as of Jan. 22, 2026, with Tabundung holding 10 towers and Paberiwai seven. Smaller communities that only recently got access, including Kampung Adat Praiyawang, are already using the connection to market tenun and coordinate daily business.

The impact is visible in the rise of individual sellers. Mama Kiani in Kampung Raja Prailiu said her family began using social media to expand sales in 2022 and later gained a spot at the INACRAFT 2026 craft fair in Jakarta, while Rambu Magdalena in Praiyawang says Facebook helps her offer cloth to customers and receive bank transfers from visitors who arrive without cash.

For investors and policymakers, the story is less about one village than about a bigger pattern: telecom infrastructure is lowering transaction costs in remote economies and creating a route for microbusinesses to scale without relying on physical traffic. That can lift incomes, support rural entrepreneurship and deepen demand for digital payments, logistics and connectivity services.

The next test is whether better access translates into sustained earnings for local producers, not just more visibility. If internet coverage keeps expanding and digital commerce habits stick, Sumba’s tenun market could become a model for how connectivity pulls remote communities into the formal economy.