Cell phones in Africa



This picture still stunns me. How is it possible that more than likely, in that village, no house is made out of anything that sturdy and yet they have a little cell phone shop set up right out in the middle of market. WOW. It is also amazing that cellphones offer opportunities through voice services but on top of that, they are bypassing the need for a computer by emerging the technologies and bringing internet access to phones, making it possible for people everywhere to have access to the world wide web without ever having computers.
      They even estimate that 97 percent of people in Tanzania have access to a cell phone when only 28 percent could access a landline. Another odd fact relating to that is Africa has seen faster growth in cell phone subscriptions than any other region of the WORLD in the last 5 years. This was a short study released in march of 2005 found on the same website as the link above.
       Even though the handsets are one challenge that was faced, Africa overcame it with the help of international handset makers who mid for a contract to supply up to 6 million handsets for less than $40 each.  Even though they are a low cost mobile phone, they still have all of the features any other cell phone would have.