Cell phones in Africa: into 21th Century

[viewfly]

GSM grows in another market. The best part is at the end, where it talks about how to charge a phone when you have no power in the house!


Cellphones Catapult Rural Africa to 21st Century

YANGUYE, South Africa - On this dry mountaintop, 36-year-old Bekowe Skhakhane does even the simplest tasks the hard way.

Fetching water from the river takes four hours a day. To cook, she gathers sticks and musters a fire. Light comes from candles.

But when Ms. Skhakhane wants to talk to her husband, who works in a steel factory 250 miles away in Johannesburg, she does what many in more developed regions do: she takes out her mobile phone.

People like Ms. Skhakhane have made Africa the world's fastest-growing cellphone market. From 1999 through 2004, the number of mobile subscribers in Africa jumped to 76.8 million, from 7.5 million, an average annual increase of 58 percent. South Africa, the continent's richest nation, accounted for one-fifth of that growth

Asia, the next fastest-expanding market, grew by an annual average of just 34 percent in that period.

"It is a necessity," said Ms. Skhakhane, pausing from washing laundry in a plastic bucket on the dirt ground to fish her blue Nokia out of the pocket of her flowered apron. "Buying air time is part of my regular grocery list." She spends the equivalent of $1.90 a month for five minutes of telephone time.

Demand for air time was so strong in Nigeria that from late 2002 to early 2003 operators there were forced to suspend the sale of subscriber identity module cards, or SIM cards, which activate handsets, while they strengthened their networks

One problem remains even in the age of cutting-edge cellular technology: How does an African family in a hut lighted by candles charge a mobile phone? A bicycle-driven charger is said to be on the horizon. But that would require a bicycle, a rare possession in much of rural Africa.

In Yanguye, as in other regions, the solution is often a car battery owned by someone who does not have a prayer of acquiring a car. Ntombenhle Nsele keeps one in her home a few miles down the road from Ms. Skhakhane's. She takes it by bus 20 miles to the nearest town to recharge it in a gas station.

For 80 cents each, Ms. Nsele, 25, lets neighbors charge their mobiles from the battery. She gets at least five customers a week.

"Oooh, a lot of people," she said, smiling. "Too many."


Full article at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/25/in.../25africa.html

[Gamer03]

Interesting.

The car battery is a good idea since they do not have electricity.

Thanks for posting this story viewfly.

[coalminer]

I know I have seen solar chargers out there, I would have thought that is how they would charge them.

[AnthroMatt]

I know we had a solar charger for certain gear while I was living in Ethiopia.

[ShoresGuy]

That's an interesting insight on how rural areas cope with the latest technologies . I couldn't imagine going anywhere without my cell phones but they're not my major lifeline either.

[viewfly]

A solar charger seems perfect to me also.Good idea. I found this one, http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/102/C4117/ on the web for $10. Takes about 4 hours to recharge. (http://www.shop.com/op/aprod-~-p17795741?sourceid=3).

But I guess $10 is more than 25cents. Imagine a pre pay as little as $1.9 a month. They probably have the phone off most of the time, and use a present time of day to call. The phone probably lasts a couple of weeks that way.

[bobolito]

How the hell you get cell service in a place where there isn't electricity?

[AnthroMatt]

Originally Posted by bobolito How the hell you get cell service in a place where there isn't electricity?

Just because individual houses/huts don't have electricity doesn't mean there is absolutely no electricity somehwere in the villages.