Innovative ways of appropriating mobile telephony in Africa

8/8/2019 Innovative ways of appropriating mobile telephony in Africa

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Innovative wayso fappropri

mobile telephonyi n AfricaAnnie C

I N T E R N A T I O N A L T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I

M I N I S T R Y O F F O R E I G N A N D E U R O P E A


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Acknowledgments

This report is published by the French Ministry of Foreign and EuropInternational Telecommunication Union (ITU). It was drawn up by MLoquay, Research Director at the National Centre for Scientific Researca cooperation project between the MAEE and the ITU.

The publishers would like to thank Mr Souheil Marine, Head of the ICybersecurity Division (CYB) of the Telecommunication Developmensupervising the production of the report. We also wish to thank Mr Ms Nathalie Brat from the Information and Communication TechnologMAEE (General Directorate for Globalization, Development and PartnersCultural and French-language Policy) and Mr Fernando Lagraa, oCommittee, for all their assistance.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, by anywithout the prior written permission of the French Ministry of Foreign aand of the ITU.

Denominations and classifications employed in this publication do not the part of the ITU, its Secretariat, Member States, Sector MemMembers, or the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs concerninstatus of any country, territory, town or geographical zone, or aacceptance or recognition of any boundary, or other territorial limit. Wcountry appears in this publication, it covers countries and territories.


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Table of contents

Introduction ................................................................................................

1 The different worlds of mobile telephony .........................................1.1 Matching a supply.................................................................1.2 to users' "ways of doing" ...................................................1.3 which is creating a new, largely informal economy ...........1.4 What impact?........................................................................

2 Designing the right products and services .......................................2.1 Financial services achieving real success ............................2.2 Online system of information for agriculture struggling

to become established..........................................................

2.3 Humanitarian work and health care ......................................3 Summary of results and future prospects ........................................

3.1 Advantages and drawbacks of information systems basedon short message services (SMS)........................................

3.2

Towards the mobile web for all? ...........................................3.3 What kind of social change? .................................................Conclusion .................................................................................................

References ................................................................................................
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Innovative ways of appropriating mobile telephony in

Introduction

Growth in mobile telephony in Africa hassurpassed the most optimistic predictionsof operators. This is the "miracle", anundeniable success story in Africa andone that has vindicated a competitiveeconomy which, according to the ITU,

should be further encouraged1. From 51.4million in 2003, the number of subscribersgrew to 264.5 million in 2007 and 375million by the end of 2008 (Africa Next2),seven times the growth seen in fixedtelephone lines. Mobile networks can fillgaps in fixed networks by allowing access,with their cellular coverage, in areas that

are otherwise not covered. The number ofphones grew from 4.19 per 100inhabitants in 2002 to 27.5 in 2007 and 32in 2008. This is the fastest growth rate inthe world: 77 per cent between 2005 and2006, 40 per cent on average over theperiod 20052008. Since 2005, thenumber of mobile phones has exceeded

the number of fixed line phones in allcountries. Area coverage is now around80 to 90 per cent in urban areas in mostcountries, and around 40 per cent onaverage in rural areas. There are,however, considerable inequalities, asmobile penetration rates varyconsiderably, from 90 phones per 100inhabitants in Gabon or South Africa tofewer than 2 in Ethiopia 3 (ITU figuresexcept 2008, AfricanTelecommunication/ICT Indicators 2008).

Today, the advantages of the telephonehave been shown through practice, and for

a tool that is especiallof a continent in whichand based on oral com

What are the differewhich mobile telepho

As a tool it is not the sis not obtainable eveway and its various fdifferently accordingregional contexts thof a capital, the buinformal economy npoor outer suburbs o

rural areas. In Africatelephony reflect the become more democopened up to all including those on loways of minimizing the area of retail economies. On the o

income population groand content of telephissues. They have bindividual identity. Usaspect of an individuait is simplistic to viewsolely in terms of cosimplicity of interface (

By understanding ttelephony environmeshould be better ableand services that aadapted to users' netried and tested applic


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1 The different worlds of mobile telephony

Owing to its particular configuration, thecellular network allows access inperipheral areas lacking any other moderntelecommunications infrastructure. Thisrelative "egalitarian trend" in thecommunication environment isparadoxically what makes it possible tocreate low-cost uses both in poor urbanand peripheral areas lacking fixedtelephone lines and in rural areas. In town

centres, which are dominated byadministration and commercial activity,users tend to be much the same as thoseelsewhere in the world: business people,trendy younger people, managers andoffice workers. But the rapid rise in the useof mobile telephony reflects the fact that itis not the preserve of a privileged few. It is

used by street artisans and traders, andhas been adopted by farmers, whounderstand the advantages of aprepayment system that can be usedeasily by everyone, even if it remainsrather expensive.

Mobile telephony in Africa illustrates onefundamental feature of the way in whichthe new technologies are being used:innovation comes about as much as aresult of user practices as in laboratories.The talk is of "innovation through use"which Dominique Cardon defines as

invent on an everydmanufacturers are uresourceful use of mashort cuts in order tway into the worlmanufacturers and technologies for their o

According to Serg

appropriation requiresbe met:

"Technical and cognit

artifact; meaningful

technical object in th

practice; repeated us

which opens the wa

lastly, at a more stric

social appropriation

users are adequately

processes of establis

and at the same time

in the process of

industrial innovation

(Breton and P


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1.1 Matching a supply

The explosive growth in mobile telephonyin the developing world is linked to theadvent of cheap phones selling at lessthan USD 20, a dynamic second-handmarket, and the efforts made by themanufacturers and operators, who havebeen skilled at matching products and

services to the demands of society as itactually is. They have employedanthropologists to acquire a betterunderstanding of customer thinking andhabits. Since 2000, they have completelychanged their economic model. Instead ofgoing for a wide profit margin with a limiteduser base, they have given priority to anew model based on a narrow marginbased on a broader customer base and asales policy that is adapted to lowerincomes. They have extended networkcoverage and promoted technicalinnovations in order to facilitate use. Thefirst big innovation was the introduction ofprepaid systems, now used by 98 per centof users, who buy cards for prices starting

at USD 2.04 in West Africa and are thusenabled to make use of online electronicsystems of credit transfer from phone tophone. It is now possible almosteverywhere to transfer credit to anothersubscriber using an SMS for very smallsums: USD 0.40 in Nigeria and BurkinaFaso, or USD 0.20 in Senegal. Charging

by the second is also widespread. Textingand SMS offer another easy way ofsending information. In an effort to capturemarket share and beat the competition,operators strategically organize price-cutting campaigns to coincide with

li i t h T b ki K it

one directory is supp

use.

In Kenya, the operatservice that allows someone and make enough for the addresreturn the call, a w

addressee to call oneself. The built-ianother example of been developed thcentred approach.

1.2 to users'

In actual fact, it is thdetermines the way inis used, and all mannapplied to minimicommunications - pooling, making use oto calls, using moredevice but also toidentify themselves anThese methods maksocial organization bsocial networks. InSenegal in particular, as it has been called Ndione, 5 networks a

can be activated as thoperates at everyemotional, and so onencouraged to be pways of contributing tin turn helps and supp


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2009). In Mali, Senegal or Burkina Faso, a

beep sent to someone who is financiallybetter off is often not just a mark offriendship but a request to be called backand thereby avoid the cost of the call.

Similarly, the practice of transferringtelephone credit is simply a

continuation of the traditional and long-established practice of transferringmoney by phone which is founded onnotions of trust and mutual assistance.The practice has grown naturally throughmobile phones even before operatorshave had time to create specialprocedures for such services. All that isrequired is to entrust a sum of money tosomeone known to you and ask him to getone of his business contacts oracquaintances to transfer the sum tosomeone at a specific place, either for freeor in return for payment. This is themethod used by migrant workers to sendmoney to their families without goingthrough companies like Western Union,

which charge high rates. In addition,telephone credit can be used to send cashto someone in a way that is far faster andmore reliable than entrusting money totravellers.

Buying a phone and making it work puts astrain on budgets, and this has promptedsome people to band together in order tobuy phones and obtain better rates. Atone of Khartoum's universities, studentshave set up a "tontine"scheme that allows

b t t id d bt i

example, the Ministry

Faso), or of a privanetworks are then and propose to aoperator a minimum who are to have communicating amonunlimited calls basis. Efixed monthly prUSD 10.24 and UShave a real incentivnetworks, as if they the current standard rUSD 18, they would hworth of calls. Thbenefits from economthe interconnectivity ba group of a given size

a minimum size of neis not viable from theview. Thus once the fis established (on thenumber of members),new members come inthe operator's profit2010).

Phone sharing is cwhere individual owSerigne Mansour Tacommunal use of povillage of Gade Kbthe Louga region of S

phone owned by a wohas emigrated to It"receiving point for dthe villagers" but disseminating informaand a tool for youn

l t i


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operators, bonuses for certain events or

times, preferential rates, and so on.

Another widely used method ofminimizing costs is to send textmessages using the short messageservice (SMS) or texting.Here practice inAfrica tends to be similar to that seen in

more developed countries.

One study by Moustapha Ndiaye ontelephone use in Senegal's third city Thisand in the French city of Rennes in 2007and 2008 shows that the most usedfunctions differ according to users' age. Asin Europe, messaging is used more byyoung people under the age of 25 years,those over that age tending to prefer voicecalls. For the youngest users, choosing tosend text messages in preference to voicecalls follows from their lower purchasingpower. One SMS message costsUSD 0.02 in Senegal today. In addition,the tendency among younger users to use

messaging while older users prefer voicecalls is also partly due to their greateradaptability. In Africa as elsewhere,portable phones make it possible toestablish links with peer group membersoutside the family. This process of openingup to the world outside the family is alsodrawing in new values that together create

a "generational identity", and young peopleare making their own distinctive mark onmobile telephony (Ndiaye 2008).

But SMS use is far from confined to the

information, and it is

plays a key role in environments.

"A young bush nurse

village about 35 kilomFaso's second city, in

cellular signal is inter

that he has found a t

which he has been

receive SMS messag

work at 7 in the morn

the tree to send off or

He did this as ofte

Villagers would regu

prepaid cards and as

messages for them

abound in the village

(Kibora

Young public officials scribes" or intermedia

the messages. It is noto fully master writingmake oneself understexample of a commothe critical time in ar"PPS de fati sam

bb i ti PPS


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spring and passed the 500 million mark in

2008" (Ouendji 2010).

This preference for using SMS is beingexploited by those involved indevelopment, as we shall see later on.

On the other hand, and unlike whathappens in Europe, voice messaging islittle used in Africa as it presents aproblem in a society where one does nottalk to a machine, and a financial onegiven the general reluctance of people topay for calls when the intendedcorrespondent is not available (Garron2008).

The telephone has become an integralpart of the people's lives, one which inthe words of a Sudanese saying "eats anddrinks with me" (Brinkman et al. 2009).Moustapha Ndiaye, in his study on theuses of mobile telephony in This,

Senegal's second ci

device becomes anindividual's identity easpects. The indivreflected in the choicecolour, size, idle dispWomen are said to beto this and change thpossible. For examplesometime display afavourite performers,the symbol of a grbelong, or their beliefsThe variable "meanshas a particular connoof the appropriation ofthe case of a phone acquaintance living a

(80 per cent of theNdiaye), the phone sha relation, friend, parSenegalese citizen lcase of a portable phoindividual with his or the phone is a statesocial status.

Prepaid card sellers in Dakar, September 2007


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Isabelle Garron6

in her studies on Usagesdu tlphone mobile en Afriquesubsaharienne au Congo has shown howmusic, which is omnipresent in the city andin Congolese life, is exchanged mainlyfrom computer to phone and from phoneto phone (using Bluetooth). The mobilephone is a tool for music professionals anda platform for activities shared byprofessionals, the public and places oftransaction. Music and video files expresscontents, codes, and modes of self-affirmation. Ring tones express a sense ofbelonging and provide a medium forpromoting artists. In Brazzaville residentsof a district which is also home to amusical band help to support their band

using their phone ring tones. "In Ouenz, aneighbourhood in the north of Brazzaville,you can hear Extra Musica Zangul and Z1international, while in Bacongo andMaklkl you can hear RaphaBounzki" (Garron 2008).

The telephone has become indispensible.It is so much a part of everyday life andculture that it has been totally"domesticated" (de Bruijn et al. 2009).Clearly, the mobile phone is more thanmerely a means of calling or sendingmessages, photos, music and phonenumbers. It also expresses the relative

importance and style of the user (Pilaf2009).

1.3 which is creating a new,l l i f l

3.5 million people in(ITU 2009)7.

The case of the centres thanks to thin mobile telephonythis new ICT-basebanking sector in AfriNigeria and Kenya, trying out call centrenote why this expannow, whereas banks elsewhere went throten/fifteen years agohas noted 8 . Nigergrowing and relativel

but another major faAfrican consumers aThey are looking contacting their banksbranch offices. The telephony has led todemand for contaoperators. Custome

accustomed to connephone operator by phsame level of sopservices such as bankthe call centre is set number of employeesthe demand for its 2010).

Most of the jobs creatregistered jobs but informal economy whleast 60 per cent of GD


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Surveys in Burkina Faso, Cameroon and

Senegal have shown thattelecommunications make up the core ofall activities generated in the informalsector of concern to the ICTs. Largeforeign enterprises that have invested inmobile telephony have applied outsourcingand subcontracting strategies with regardto their services in the quest for greaterflexibility that will reduce labour costs andpass on the cost of fluctuations in demand.The effect of subcontracting has been toencourage informal employment. Jobopportunities have been created inresponse to the need for smallneighbourhood retail services for users.From import of products to itinerant streettraders, an entire range of new service

activities is growing up and making itsmark on the urban landscape (Chneau-Loquay 2008).

Mobile telephony generates all manner ofcommerce in new or second-hand

products. The major African retailers travelbetween Europe, Asia and theredistribution centres of Dubai and Lagos,where African products and capital arerecycled10.

Telephone companies have subcontractedthe sale of prepaid cards to wholesalersand semi-wholesalers with their ownresale networks, who deploy armies ofyoungsters in the streets of the majortowns. Of the profit margin of about 10 percent granted by some operators on these

increase their rate

refused to sell their ca

Hundreds of young pselling, repairing, rcharging portable generally not peopletelecommunications retrained sales padvantage of their presales and using phonMonde describes thisBamako.

"Armed with a toothbr

and working by the li

lamp an artisan re

mobile phone to life.

(7.50 euros) for a b

times that for a top o

explains Vieux, the

flourishing, the cu

droves. In front of the

is proudly showing off

girl" (Abbiateci an

In one neighborhood Dakar, which has sesmall retail business


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They have set up right next to a modern

building housing the offices of the mobilephone operator in order to attract thelatter's customers. The operator filed acomplaint against the shop owners, but inthe end was forced to relocate its ownsales and subscription activities at the endof 2006. Our own research has shown12(interviews with 10 employers and 30sales employees in 2009) that such shopsare generally let for between USD 61.45and USD 71.69 per month. A fee is alsopaid to the local authority (from USD 4.09to USD 6.14 a month); these are thereforelegal enterprises which, however, operatein an informal way. An employer rents theshop and employs up to three salespeoplewho sell the phones in the street or bring

customers back to the shop. Prices varyaccording to the model, from USD 51.20for the cheapest to USD 1'230 for the mostsophisticated models. Employers andsellers are generally linked by kinship, andprofits are shared out by the employer inthe light of the day's takings; there is nowritten contract and rates are not fixed in

advance.

All brands of new and second-handphones arriving in containers at the port ofDakar or at airports in the luggage ofsalesmen and others are reprogrammedby local IT people. These recycled phones

are to be found everywhere.

Another service activity is illustrated by thecase of the owners of small street standswhere mobile phones can be rented. Theyare becoming ever more common in

rates for their big cust

on to their employeethen entrusted to a r job of selling at ddifferent times of damorning rush hour, points for commutersranks, etc., and atbusiness day. This pphone sales points gactivity that is neitprohibited, alongside tsuch activities. Moboccupies the public sway: streets, pavcrossroads, parks anbus stations. It joins tkiosks selling prepaid

even greater congest(Gnamien 2002).

In Cameroon, a differsales points is useddescribes the operatiopoints economy in

medium-sized city ofThis is not, as in Cteactivity; it is registecontrolled. The key aoperator. Once somsuitable location for upoint, he or she then a carpenter to make a

registering with the BOnce that has been trader contacts an opauthorized wholesaleragent. The trader "electronic voucher dspecial SIM card and


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in terms of the amount of credit that could

be obtained. The activity can be lucrativebut the competition is intense and there isa trend towards creating bigger kiosks withpeople in possession of capital to invest.One example is that of Elvis, which is ableto buy up sufficient credit. It makes profitsin three ways: If it buys up a lot of credit, itgets a bonus: USD 49.15 in credit meansa bonus of USD 26.62, part of which ispassed on to the customers. Call length isalso a factor: for 0 to 59 seconds the rateis USD 0.20 but a further USD 0.40 evenfor an extra second after that. It alsoundertakes credit transfer the cost oftransferring CFAF 1'000 is CFAF 100, forCFAF 2'000 it will be CFAF 300, and so on(Nkwi 2009).

ICTs have now become features of theurban scene even down to small towns,with kiosks sporting the livery of theoperator and a plethora of advertisingposters, as we see in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo.

Recharging mobile phones is a problem inareas without mains electricity. Thereagain, a multitude of small-scale money-

making activities h

Kalsaka, a rural coinhabitants in the psituated 145 km fromnorthern Burkina Farapid economic grownew gold mine which some 150 people in fThis has created a charging.

Two methods are usegenerator, the other power collector. On third day), users flocpoint to recharge theavoid the risk of losingas a phone, they wait

place and pay betwUSD 0.30. Charging tis two hours at moshours using a solar unreflected in the turnoperators. The operatcan charge almost 30day on market days a

day, earning USD 790two operators by conmore than 50 mobileand make up to USD 32010).

A shop front


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1.4 What impact?

There have been few studies on thecurrent use of mobile phones and itsimpact in sub-Saharan Africa 13 . Most ofthe available literature is based on mediaor NGO reports and focuses on "M4D"(mobile for development) projects andapplications. Nevertheless a number ofexploratory surveys in agriculture andfishing and on small enterprises in theinformal sector have given some indicationof the far-reaching changes brought aboutby the mobile phone in Africa.

1.4.1 In rural areas, telephone

communications are leading tofar-reaching changes

The way of life of millions of people indeveloping countries depends to a largeextent on agriculture and smallenterprises. The agricultural sectorrepresents 60 per cent of the work force inmost African economies, some 20 per cent

of all exports, and 17 per cent of GDP; ithelps to sustain 70 per cent of thepopulation (ACACIA 2006). A recent WorldBank report (World Bank 2009) suggeststhat the portable telephone is the bestmeans for creating economic opportunitiesand obtaining essential services formillions of people, and that in the next few

years most new users connecting to amobile network will come from rural areasin developing countries, who will join the 3billion existing users in those countries.

In 2000, telephone co

village in Burkina Farelied on the nearest ccentre that was tcommissioned a strdisruptive novelty thalocated and a managdown the road, telephand individual, and villagers will certainpersonal mobile phchanges that are likeas a result of the teleaccording to Andr unique characteristicswith its strong oral trait absorbs new contenThe Sanan will have

culture but they will hit on the basis of thtraditions.

Oral communication iway in which tthroughout Africa ope

Sonink region in Soumare 2009), theFaso (Nyamba 200Uganda (Martin, Abtelephony is very muprevailing oral traditiSteck views as beingto advantage by the

these societies nowdevelopments and thtool is easy to appropbecoming a commonpadvent of this technocausing profound individual's relationsh


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will entail a redefinition of the notion of the

individual, and of his or her role andposition in different structures as they arerebuilt, including the family and the village.All this will be the result of a kind of newacquired power the obligation to informand to be informed.

This is disrupting social hierarchies. Theolder generation may find itself losing theircontrol over discourse which, once public,is now increasingly private. Its power maybe enhanced if controls the means ofpaying for the telephone, but that powercan also be challenged by younger peoplemore adept at exploiting its variousfunctions, and by a loss of control over

them and over women, who are nowenabled to communicate in a way thatbreaks through social constraints.

Telephones also alter the image of theoutside world and the relationship withtime and distance. For example, no one

will now embark on the process ofemigration without obtaining information inadvance. The advent of the telephone inthese villages gives added impetus to thegeneral process of opening up to theoutside. In the view of Benjamin Steck,distance is a fundamental notion whichlinks us to others and constructs our

identity in relation to space. It is now beingextended to embrace the entire world,while time is running ever faster, withimportant consequences. The village willno longer be the microcosm of society withits established times and rhythms in whichyou take the time to go and say hello to

An instantaneous link

outside world, witneighbouring villages migrated to the ccommunication with thelps to reinforce terrno longer depends foclose proximity but umbilical cord remaincirculate, but finanmigrants also increase

The telephone also trade and financial flowto information meansimproved knowledge ohas a positive imp

systems (Aker 20082009).

One study on the spmobile phone use in sized agricultural conducted in 2009 i

Uganda, where 42 pehouseholds have a mand Abbott 2010)conducted with 110 fa54 women, chosen odifferent agricultural non-agricultural activishowed that more

respondents use thearrange the delivery market information afor their productstransactions and respas they arise. A little leinterviewed consulted


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communicating with their families, but

texting is generally used when the userhas little credit left, and the principalmeans of communication is by voice.

The Uganda study highlights anotheraspect of mobile phone use in rural areas use for collective purposes. Members ofagrarian collectives use their mobilephones for a wide range of purposes. Thestudy noted a number of uses such astaking photos of agricultural events, usingthe loudspeaker function to enable a groupof farmers to consult an expert, recordingannouncements and contributions inconnection with loan repayments, storageof data such as hens' laying dates,calendars, calculator, and so on. In this

particular area, the spread of mobilephones is such that it has now gonebeyond the initial phase of mainly first-timeadoption, and is now at the stage of rapid"take off" in the curve described byRogers. According to Rogers (2003),those who are first to adopt innovationsare people with highly developed social

relations, who travel and are exposed to

ideas and opportunit

their local social sytraditionally less mobresult of prevailing swhich they bear respotasks and raising chilless in contact with information, they areamong early adopt(Martin and Abbot 201

However, all the eobservations suggest of the telephone in rvaluable time in observices. The phone ca case of illness and other means of transp

to a hospital.

This can all be summto the scheme usSoumare based oinnovation territoplaces mobile telepsystem of interrelatio

global and the local.

Mobile telephony in a global system of development and marketing

Reducin

Productive transformationFree flow of trade

AN INNOVATION

Stimulating inventiveness

A TERRITOR

MOBILE TELEPHONY


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They highlight the fact that the logic of the

system for circulating information overlapswith the territorial system. Distance isreduced but not eliminated, access totransport and services is improved andproduction transformed. The telephonestimulates inventiveness, for example insolving the persistent problem ofrecharging batteries. In Sarakoll villages,where there is no mains electricity supply,they use moped engines and in doing socreate another source of income. Morefreedom in trade has benefits for the life ofthe community, but the broadening ofhorizons it brings about also createsprocesses of social fragmentation, despitea strong historical identity.

1.4.2 Streamlining the fishing sectorin Senegal

The use of mobile telephones in the small-scale fishing sector in Senegal has led toeven more obvious improvements inworking conditions, work practices and

incomes, than in agriculture. Withimproved management of sea and landtraffic, meaning fewer and more efficienttrips, time savings with more rapidtransactions, and improved safety in ahazardous occupation, the telephonemakes it possible to streamline the fishingsector at all levels.

The fishing sector is one of the mostimportant sectors of the Senegaleseeconomy. It accounted for some 600'000jobs in 2006, a total turnover of more than

activity, in which crew

of members of a single

It has become rare fothis sector, whether fish processors, or have a mobile phonewith two chips 15 . Qunetwork coverage problematic. Officiallyat sea allow captukilometres from the chowever, believe the and inadequate, sincethe fishing grounds much further and for would like to be able

all conditions. The nled to some originfishers use their mobisince the network ikilometres from the cto estimate their locatto give an averagephones. A chip

(USD 5.11) and the poat all prices. The communications voccupation to anotherto another, from beand 50 000 a month for some large wholes

The portable phone variety of ways. It oensuring greater sasometimes (when coused to contact fisherreport problems or th


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The system enables fishers to provide

wholesale dealers with information on thesize of their catch and the price they areseeking, and enables the wholesalers todo the same with their contacts furtherupstream. Many negotiations areconducted by telephone, and it is quitecommon for a boat to put in at a port withall the subsequent stages in getting thecatch from the boat to the shop alreadyplanned. Phones can also be used toobtain information on different ports ofdisembarkation. Lastly, it allows constantcontact to be maintained, if the networkpermits, and to agree on logistical issuesor meeting points.

One fisher, when asked if he thought hisportable phone helped him to earn moremoney, gave this answer:

"Of course it does. I earn more than I did

before I bought this phone and I have

fewer problems. The wholesalers are

informed of my arrival, so I don't go out of

my way for nothing, and the catch

remains fresh. Most people have a

portable nowadays. When I have a good

contact, I pass on the number to my

friends, and they do the same for me. Thephone does cost a lot but really, how did

we manage before?"

anticipate and spec

longer a problem witto pay on landing becwas not known), otelephone really dinvolved in this occuthe better.

Within the sector, tmake less use of theOne noted that the wthe fish and turning iMy portable is just ucalls I need to mahusband, who is a fislate getting back from

ICTs, including the Intgood means of chaexport. Some fishersuse of the Internet. Cthe web and then devThe advantages of wholesalers are enorm

so for the fishers, whonot sure of being ablea good price when customer. This advanin the overall contextoday is one in which supply, and fishers aoften able to sell themost importantly at a reps.

ICTs, and especially tare bringing about rfishing sector They h


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species, and so forth. ICTs provide links

between the different players. They openthe fishing sector in Senegal to a widerglobalization by enabling those involved inthe sector to export more easily and tobreak into more lucrative markets.

1.4.3 Benefits for small and medium-sized enterprises in Tanzania

A survey of small and medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs) in Tanzania tends toconfirm the findings of those on fishing oragriculture in West Africa. The mobilephone improves time and distancemanagement and has a positive economicimpact on production and trade bothupstream and downstream.

Simon Rwekiza Melchioly and OysteinSbo in 2008 carried out a qualitativeexploratory study on the nature of mobilephone use in small and medium-sizedenterprises in Morogoro in Tanzania. Atotal of 30 interviews were conducted withowners/directors of 15 such enterprises ofdifferent categories (five carpenters, five

metalwork artisans and five woodengravers).

The mobile phone is used more often thanother means by all these small-scalecraftsmen as a means of keeping contactsand making new ones with suppliers andcustomers, and more easily and quickly

than was possible before, either by voicecalls or by using SMS. The possibility ofobtaining information on the latest pricesin different markets makes for greatertransparency and more favourable prices.Small entrepreneurs are now accustomed

Mobile phones enabl

SMEs covered by tspending time and m journey to obtinexpensive productguaranteed by obtaadvance on the availMost of those intervthey have managed different production o

shows that use of moscale craft businessebetter prices, tcoordination of produsupplier and by helpinlocations. For exaengravers have used to find markets in

Salaam and have beeproduce to Bagamoyowith the arrival of groof the people interviegeographical barriersuse of mobile phonessell his products in rem

The study has also shis used for a range othe same telephone business and for perso

The cost of calls is limits the use of teleextend the market for especially the case most lacking in According to one expensive to call a cconcluded, so "you SMS". In this particulausing SMS appears


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Streamlining the fishing industry

To summarize, mobile telephony isregarded as a catalyst for productivity andfor disseminating and obtaininginformation in SMEs, minimizing the needfor travel and face to face meetings toclinch deals. Mobile phones give small

enterprises the capacity to contact newclients and suppliers rapidly. Mobiletelecommunications thus promote greaterfairness by enabling disadvantagedpopulations to have access to informationwhich would be difficult or impossible toobtain by using only fixed telephone lines,which in most areas will not be up and

running in the near future (Melchioly andSbo 2010).

1.4.4 The media: At the forefront of

phones guaranteed a in the ballot and helpleast minimize electjournalists, the portabindispensible tool andthe requirements of

portable has become effective coordinationand their central officecoverage of events. necessary to sendcumbersome equipmnow use their portabevents as they happe

to bring about a revoand is already revoluin some counties (Nd2005).


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who are encouraging their audiences touse text messages to participate in someinteractive broadcasts or in games. Oneprominent example is "Zap presse", adiscussion forum run by Radio TimeniSiantou in Cameroon 18 . This is a forumwhich, every Sunday between 10 and 12,brings together journalists and a range ofindividuals to talk about one or moretopical themes. A portable telephone

number is announced by the presenter inorder to encourage listeners interested inthe debate to make their owncontributions.

Journalists have become well-acquaintedwith the enigmatic language used in the

world of the SMS, which has become agenuine social phenomenon. A processnow underway is opening up the possibilityof diversions, bypassing, reinvention or ofdirect participation of users in the designof innovations (Breton and Proulx 2002).

18 Radio Timeni Siantou, a private FMbroadcaster in Yaound.

And this is all the mSMS were originally iby which operators cthe state of the netwo

On the other hand, phone for accessing twidespread in Afric journalists, and there

done in this area to procedures to users' n

19 The history of the SMSMS text message froanother was sent in 19intern with the Finncompany Nokia. As reg

message, it is said to hNeil Papworth, an empThe SMS in question wcomputer to a mobile GSM network in the U2010).

20 Except perhaps in Soutcountries, although tstudies on this subject.


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2 Designing the right products and servicesThe advent of mobile telephony has meantthat for the first time in history the majorityof the world's population has at its disposalan interactive communications tool andcan access its services, and this should

have significant effects on economicgrowth. "In several countries, mobilepenetration is beginning to transcend the40 per cent critical mass identified asnecessary to enjoy the network effects thatrealize economic growth anddevelopment-producing innovations suchas mobile banking and employment or

agricultural information services" (Gildwal2009).

Until now, the device available to mostpeople with low incomes has been asimple telephone programmed for voiceand SMS and with only limited Internetcapability, and even though smart phonesare increasingly on sale, they are used ina way well below their potential capacity.

A cursory review of projects that havebeen set up so far suggests that most arebased on the use of SMS as a means ofdisseminating information on health

issues, agriculture and e-banking.However, there is considerable potentialfor greater use of webbased mobileapplications and this is now starting to beexplored in Africa, given the explosivegrowth since 2008 in the number of people

can adapt it in the rig2008).

There are numerous d

and applications nowgive here only a bprincipal areas concesome indications as tofor development of ceweb mobile, with its pproblems.

An overview ofp r o j ec t s an d

2.1 Financial seachieving re

According to one survAfrica in 200708, alpeople interviewed in Saharan Africa borrofamilies and friends (ri

From Kenya to Southto West Africa, operaseen the incentive services to largely While payment by

I ti f i ti bil t l h i


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M-Pesa, the first fund transfer serviceusing mobile phones in Africa, waslaunched in 2007 in Kenya by Safaricomand had reached 6.5 million customers byMay 2009, or 13 per cent of the populationwithin a period of less than two years(Wikipedia, M-Pesa). Money can betransferred by SMS from any portablephone fitted with a compatible SIM card.The sender registers free of charge with

an official agent on presentation of anidentity card. He or she then buys call timewhich is transferred to the portable phoneaccount of the beneficiary, who can thengo to another agent to cash in the credit.Most transactions do not exceed 2'000Kenyan shillings (USD 25.80). The M-Pesa system has been a success because

it is based on traditional paymentpractices, extensive mobile phonenetworks, and a large network ofdistributors who work with establishedagents, each of whom is given basictraining. Three months after the launch,the service had 400 agents compared tothe 450 bank branches and 600 cash

dispensing machines in Kenya. In 2009,the number of M-Pesa agents passed the3'400 mark. The system is simple and fast,a transfer taking no more than30 seconds22.

The success of M-Pesa is due to its abilityto adapt to local conditions andrequirements.

The M-Pesa model has been imitated inAfrica, according to African EconomicOutlook 23 but the technologies and

commercial systems The standard mobavailable in Africa todSMS, Interactive VoiUnstructured SupplData (USSD), and ncards that can be poperator. In South AfNational Bank (FNBBanks of South Afric

IVR and USSD tecindependent open smobile network operaand MTN Banking inuse of personalized Stransfer systems aremembers.

Also in South Africa,and the ABSA use technologies includApplication Protocol web servers (https). accessible only to pephones. The Near So

(NSDT) system develwhich uses a phonetransmit an encryptepayments, has the compatible with all moIt is being tested inDemocratic RepubliZambia. It will shorGhana, Mali and Nige



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African commercial models are opening upnew ways for payments and banking.Where services have the support of thebanks, they adhere to the bankingregulations in force. In South Africa, Wizzitis managed by the Bank of Athens andcan be used by any mobile telephoneoperator. This is the case also with the joint enterprise MTN Banking in SouthAfrica, which grew out of an agreement

between the operator MTN and StandardBank, and the partnership agreementsigned in January 2010 in Moroccobetween Maroc Telecom and the country'stwo leading banks.

Transaction costs are between 1 and 3 per

cent of the sum being transferred, asopposed to double-digit rates for traditionalprocedures. M-banking should increasethe number of people with bank accountsin Morocco. Since 6 January 2010, it hasmade it possible to effect financialtransactions in Morocco using a mobilephone. Given the name "Mobi Cash", this

first money transfer and payment serviceusing mobile phones is governed by atripartite agreement signed by AbdeslamAhizoune, Chairman of the MarocTelecom Board of Directors, Mohamed ElKettani, President of the Attijariwafa Bankgroup, and Mohamed Benchaaboun,President of the Banque Populaire group.The agreement sets out the conditions forhaving bank accounts, electronic moneyguarantees, Mobi Cash infrastructures andplatforms, as well as marketing andcustomer relations. Mobi Cash enablescustomers of the principal telephoneoperator in Morocco to use their mobile

"Maroc Telecom laupublished 7 January 2

AfricanEconomicOutlo"There is a regulatorservices provided operators. While moare accountable to authorities, the scop

financial regulation Central banks respoand fiscal policy in Aflooking at e-paymeother services. Themention of electroniccurrency in regulatoPesa in Kenya

telecommunications and is not supported bwas only able to discussions with locaargued that it was trataking deposits and sscope of financial regu

However, the diffepayment and a depoby the time the mosystem. Fronttelecommunications aare easily blurred. Anrely heavily on revenfees, M-Pesa repcompetitor and has min its two years of when the companDecember 2008 that initiating and receremittances from th



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(excluding debt) in countries such asBotswana, Ghana and Kenya, six timeslarger in Nigeria and three times in SouthAfrica in 2007. Orange, Zain and MTN arealready exploring the possibility oflaunching this service.

Mobile-payments and banking are quick

and easy to use. This could enable rapidtake up by unbanked population.According to the 2007/2008 Research ICTAfrica survey the main reason people donot have a bank account is because theydo not have enough regular income. Zerotransaction costs were highlighted bymany respondents as a reason for sending

air-time instead of cash. M-Pesa forexample, is particularly attractive for smalltransactions. In order to send KSH 1 000,Western Union would charge a fee of KSH500 while M-Pesa would ask KSH 30 if themoney is sent to M-Pesa users and KSH75 if it is sent to non users. Thetechnology could eventually be used to

collect the transaction history of customers,

enabling them to obtarating.

Recent entrants planbegin providing simCelPay in Democraticand Zambia, OrascomEgypt and Zimbabwe,Burundi, Democratic

Ethiopia, Kenya, RwZambia, Globacom Kenya, Tanzania andMali, Cte d'Ivoire, Kthe Cooperative BankWith only 19.8 per keeping their money a sample of 17 Afr

more than 30 per cenrobbed or losing the cdeveloping mobile-ban

24 http://www.africanecondepth/innovation-and-icdevelopment-innovative19 April 2010).

Solar power phone box in Burkina Faso

http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/fr/in-depth/innovation-and-ict-in-africa/pro-development-innovative-applications/http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/fr/in-depth/innovation-and-ict-in-africa/pro-development-innovative-applications/http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/fr/in-depth/innovation-and-ict-in-africa/pro-development-innovative-applications/http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/fr/in-depth/innovation-and-ict-in-africa/pro-development-innovative-applications/


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2.2 Online system of

information for agriculturestruggling to becomeestablished

Inexpensive information systems foragriculture and fishing based on the use of

mobile telephones started to make theirappearance in Africa some ten years ago.

In West Africa, the first of these initiativeswas Xam Mars ("Know your Market" inWolof), which was launched in Senegal bythe Manobi Development Foundation aftertwo years of research. Since 2002, it hasbeen supplying farmers with informationon market prices in return for a low-costsubscription. It uses all the modes ofcommunication available on a mobiletelephone SMS, multimedia messages(MMS) incorporating images, video clipsand sound, and the Wireless ApplicationProtocol (WAP) which allows Internet

access from a mobile phone.

"In Niayes, a farmer checks market pricesin real time on his/her mobile phone tonegotiate with the wholesaler and obtainthe best prices. In Tambacounda,Senegal, groups of Sterculia gum growers

use their mobile phone to inform theircontract buyers about their inventory. InSikasso, Mali, mango growers recordinformation on every step of the process totrace their products for export markets incompliance with Global Gap requirements.

"Esoko Networks (kTradeNet) was startGhanaian software Esoko has a websit800'000 prices from are quoted, with a foAfrica. Because only ausers are active on has relied on an SMSsign up to receive we

commodities for a feeSMS. Users can also and sell products viamake precise prcommodities in a coinformation by SMS.

There are two majoAfrica. In Kenya, Sagricultural informatiomessages for a fee. Tpartnership betweeAgricultural Comm(KACE) and mobile

Information kiosks areagricultural commoditmeet, providing lowfarmers. KACE woinformation from the kfarmers, buyers andmessages. In 2005Women of Uganda Nstarted to send SMSprices to 400 rural fasupport from the TAgricultural and RuraEU (CTA). Workersfrom markets and daBusoga Rural Open S

http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/in-depth/innovation-and-ict-in-africa/pro-development-innovative-applications/box-25-esoko-large-scale-market-for-agricultural-products-in-west-africa/http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/in-depth/innovation-and-ict-in-africa/pro-development-innovative-applications/box-25-esoko-large-scale-market-for-agricultural-products-in-west-africa/http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/in-depth/innovation-and-ict-in-africa/pro-development-innovative-applications/box-25-esoko-large-scale-market-for-agricultural-products-in-west-africa/


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of a call and up to an estimated 1/10th ofthe travel cost in some cases. Theinformation has increased the bargainingpower of farmers, who in the past had littlealternative but to sell their goods to thewholesalers located nearest to them.

There are several obstacles to the wider

use of e-agriculture technology however.Even though 39.1 per cent of the Africanpopulation owned a mobile phone in 2008,many unprofitable rural areas are notcovered by mobile services. E-agriculturecannot anyway answer all of farmers'problems such as poor transport. Theinformation systems are difficult to sustain.

In Ghana, TradeNet has had to hire andtrain agents to collect information, whichanyway can be easily pirated. Manobisubsidizes the collection of market data.Esoko has been subsidizing SMS alertsfor individuals, but most people prepay fortheir text messages, so it is now onlysubsidizing SMS alerts for individuals in

Ghana. The challenge is to provideinformation that farmers feel is worthpaying for. Farmers and traders are notusing radio-based MIS in Sub-SaharanAfrica because the information does notmeet their needs so the providers will haveto tailor their services more to the needs ofusers"25.

There is also without any doubt a need forbetter training for farmers and to integratethem more effectively in the data receptionsystem in order to spread the use of SMS

bargaining skills, posand networking (AfricanEconomicOut2010).

2.3 Humanitariahealth care

A key element in dimprovement of accerelevant information oliving conditions.

Support structures areways of communicpartners involved. communication, exchanging informatiomobile phone such action campaigns a

enabling communiinformation but also toby allowing it to be coways including text photos or even video c

In the field of heal

conducted by Vital WVodafone (Vital Wavtakes stock of differenof health-related uses("m-health").

http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/in-depth/innovation-and-ict-in-africa/pro-development-innovative-applications/box-26-bringing-people-and-markets-together-the-impact-of-ict/http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/in-depth/innovation-and-ict-in-africa/pro-development-innovative-applications/box-26-bringing-people-and-markets-together-the-impact-of-ict/http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/in-depth/innovation-and-ict-in-africa/pro-development-innovative-applications/box-26-bringing-people-and-markets-together-the-impact-of-ict/http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/in-depth/innovation-and-ict-in-africa/pro-development-innovative-applications/box-26-bringing-people-and-markets-together-the-impact-of-ict/


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y pp p g p y

For example, a system of data collectionusing mobile phones 26 is being used tocollect information on mothers' nursinghabits and child developmentmeasurement in rural areas of easternUganda and has produced better resultsthan a similar paper information gatheringexercise. Data input errors have beenconsiderably reduced, cost-effectivenessimproved, and the users have willingly

accepted the new technology.

Another example of m-health is thepractice of using SMS alerts to remindpatients to take their medication. Healthcare personnel have noted that 40 per

cent of hospital readmissions for heartattacks are due to the failure of patients totake their medication correctly. Reducinghospital admissions can generate incomefor health care services. Such cases showhow improved results in treatment andgreater efficiency actually go hand inhand.

Access to wireless technology is alsostimulating areas such as the treatmentand prevention of HIV/AIDS, improvedmaternity care, follow-up on outbreaks oftransmissible diseases, and efforts toensure that children get preventive careand vaccinations. That technology in turnis enabling remote connectivity with healthcare systems and experts. The keyapplications are in the following areas:

The survey report applications for each suggests that currenimproved, made susimpacts on health meelements for the suprogrammes are as fo

Matching m-h

health needssolution has through a useand must keepobjectives anduser's envdesigning newexperts shoul

user and discuthey are likely their everyday

Using a simptechnology;

Creating intersection band m-health;

Providing gumaximize thetaken and ensof results (Vit2009)27.

27 United Nations FouFoundation Technologypublic-private alliance uprogrammes to shumanitarian efforts wohas three core commituse of rapid



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y pp p g p y

Provision of information on health issuesvia mobile phones ranges from a questionand answer service on water and waterpurification, set up by Netwas in Uganda,to a breast cancer information service runby Mobile4Good in Kenya, Tanzania andCameroon, or awareness-raising activitieslike "la libert du sida", a game aimed atreinforcing the message about protectedsex. In Zimbabwe, an interactive voice

answering system has been set up byKubatana, a civil society organization thataims to provide teenagers with informationon sexual matters from a web site entitled"Auntie Stella".

There are also numerous examples of

applications and systems that have beendeveloped to improve the efficiency andcompetence of public health authorities,including small-scale monitoring projects,data collection programmes ormultifunctional systems.

A range of systems have been put in placeenabling practitioners to obtain informationof relevance to them on demand or byautomatic downloading. For example,doctors in Uganda can obtain medicaltexts via their personal digital assistants(PDA) by downloading a weekly bulletinwith the Satellife or Maliwi programmes,and health workers can obtain information

on the effect of drugs via an SMS platformcalled Frontline. In Nairobi, students havedeveloped a blood bank using SMS and asystem that enables the district hospital tomonitor and coordinate blood donations.Other applications are used to collect data

application for internand health. It is baseweb platform that castarted up within an payment is required; to connect and st(Selanikio 2010)28.

One well-known exa

programme in Mali, technologies to recoillness and reduce mchildren in low-income

A review of the abundissue of developmen

mobile telephony sugwith rare exceptions, improve conditions of to achieve their full pilot programmes owhich have nevertheand form a body of caserve as a basis for fu

28 See EpiSurveyor.org a

Want to Know Before B29 See: annex 2 of H.

technologies can enhawork in Africa, Guide p2009 Plan Finland P00240 Helsinki, whichprojects ahttp://mobileactive.org/ffor Development - P

http://mobileactive.org/files/file_uploads/Mobiles_for_Development_-_Plan_2009.pdfhttp://mobileactive.org/files/file_uploads/Mobiles_for_Development_-_Plan_2009.pdfhttp://mobileactive.org/files/file_uploads/Mobiles_for_Development_-_Plan_2009.pdfhttp://fr.mobiles.tacticaltech.org/en/taxonomy/term/4http://mobileactive.org/files/file_uploads/Mobiles_for_Development_-_Plan_2009.pdfhttp://mobileactive.org/files/file_uploads/Mobiles_for_Development_-_Plan_2009.pdf


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Monitoring child health Psinet in Mali

The Psinet project in Mali deploys mobile technology to prevent imortality among low-income families. Although basic, this system has real improvements in infant mortality indicators. Infant mortality indicatopilot project in Senegal fell from 123 per 1 000 to 5.3 per 1 000lucent.com .

Members of the community are trained to be 'Agents de Pese' (ADP

project at community level and are provided with Java-enabled momonth, ADPs, working with local midwives, identify and register low-inchildren under five, and pass their names to the project coordinatoweighed and monitored at home once a week, babies under one yearthese data, along with other relevant symptoms such as vomitingtransferred by the phone via GPRS to the project database . The databproject paediatrician to children who show significant weight loss or othdoctor can examine the risk curves and send text messages to the ADthose children who need to be examined in person . The ADP can thand advise them to bring the child to the Psinet centre for examination

Source : Mobiles for development How mobile technologies can enhance Plan and paGuide prepared for Plan by Hannah Beardon, January 2009

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/


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3 Summary of results and future prospectsThe near-universal use of mobiletelephony in Africa, its accessibility, easeof use and above all the fact that it hasbeen appropriated by the localpopulations, presents a challenge to the

traditional ways of analysing the use ofICTs for development.

Very low-income populations make thepurchase of a mobile phone a priority, inthe belief that it has potential benefits forthem. Such populations, which are theintended beneficiaries of developmentprojects, invest of themselves not only inorder to acquire a phone but also byinnovating and creating new functions andapplications of use to them. There is thusa "bottom up" development of differentuses that is quite different from the classic"top down" flow of information like that ofradio or television, and more like that of

the Internet, which develops along moreorganic lines like a sponge (Combes2005).

Given this enthusiasm for the mobile,many of the players, both public andprivate, as well as NGOs, have mobilized

to provide services for this low-incomemajority. At the forefront are the operatorsand manufacturers, who have understoodhow to change the economic model, adapttheir phones and applications and open upaccess to voice and messaging services

Consequently, it maprocess of democtelephone is under wainequalities persistcountries (a penetrati

96 telephones per Gabon to only 3.7 2009)), between towand among differentthose who own mobithey have become indsomething about an can be used as a msocial and family relaworking tool, and havlocal cultures.

But how will the use evolve in the cobroadband mobile adevelop in the same w

case with basic teleph

In an attempt to clarwill now consider the ldrawn from curreemerging trends in society.



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3.1 Advantages and drawbacks

of information systemsbased on short messageservices (SMS)

In terms of technology, the aboveoverview shows that in Africa, mobileapplications for development focus

generally on the provision of SMSservices.

From the user's point of view, thispredominance reflects the mostwidespread level of capacity of phonesavailable to users. All SMS services are

accessible from any basic phone andavailable to users who have onlyprepayment systems.

From the point of view of senders ofinformation, SMS is the technology mosteasily accessible for any individual orcompany wishing to obtain information viamobile phones. Setting up an SMSplatform is quick, inexpensive andrelatively easy. This makes it an ideal toolfor organizations with limited resources,small budgets and only rudimentary ITexpertise. There are a number of free andinexpensive platforms such asFrontlineSMS31 and Episurveyor32.

Nevertheless a number of economic andcultural constraints arise from that veryavailability and ease of use.

unable to read or wrcostly and still at

development.

In terms of fixed coonly voice calls and Sthose that allow davariable costs are higvoice message the

USD 0.20 a minute SMS. The same mGPRS link, from a Wdedicated application less (Donner 2009). remain a rather expenfor transmitting infotransmission costs, t

multi-session SMS sysrange of complex datSMS platforms is thausing an SIM card phone. There are services for sending such as Clickatel 33 athey are unsuitableworking in regiontelecommunications without an Internet cothis type also require a

3.2 Towards theall?

All the actors in agreement that the



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Mobile telephone operators need toconstruct the broadband networks and

associated protocols that will allow theweb's potential to be fully exploited.According to Guy Zibi, Director ofAfricaNext, a company that specializes intelecommunications market analysis inAfrica, the mobile telephony industry willnow be trying to do for the Internet marketwhat it has already done for voice

telephony:

"The obstacles are numerous; limited

infrastructure in key portions of the

Internet network value chain; high cost of

bandwidth and customer equipment, low

literacy levels and small addressable

markets. And yet the opportunity carries

this perennially unique African blend of

highly promising potential and often

uncertain returns, sett

next phase of mobileon the con

(Zibi 2

For the W3C collabodevelopers working t

and working with moleaders to improve production for mobileproblem of access or operator provides a dweb access36.

36 W3C has created the aim of which is to makmobile devices a reaBerners-Lee, Director the Web.

A phone repairer



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Participants attending a symposium on thepotential of mobile telephony, held in

Maputo in April 200937, expressed the viewthat navigating the web has now become aviable option for providing richer contentand developing more complexapplications. Mobile phone webtechnologies offer a major opportunity fordeveloping a large number of applicationson a large scale and at low cost, by

authorizing the establishment of newservices in Africa. A stable and effectiveGPRS already provides a means ofproviding content for the public. Richerapplications using images and graphicssuch as icons also offer services ofincreased added value, and easier accessfor low-income population groups. The

same participants, however, regretted thelack of collaboration, cooperation, andsharing among those working in this area(NGOs, grass-roots organizations, variousinstitutions, and so on), all of whichcreates the impression of a large numberof systems and platforms competing tosolve the same problems. One reason forthis is the lack of visibility and knowledgeof what is being done by others.

They also considered that challengesassociated with upscaling and thereplicability and sustainability of projectsalready under way or planned are crucial,and called for the participation of all the

players (governments, enterprises, NGOsand local communities). That in their viewis the only way of providing services andinformation for the remaining 1 billionpotential users (Boyera 2009).

Internet, in a way thaexperimental approa

phones and "netbookphones will increasingdata. Creators of devapplications will need based on their specifrequirements, the deusers and the pricitelecommunications

target countries, in orthey have reached thtransition to GPRgenerations can begin

3.3 What kind o

change?

The technologies developed, but how wintegral part of thepopulations and what There are still unceavailable literature on

of mobile telephonypurposes does not suand consistent trend aeconomic change.

Donner, however, convergence among

and organizational mowhich reflects the pbodies, local NGOsrepresentatives, andmarket opportunities. that in almost all the



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Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania, theLivestock Information Network Knowledge

System (LINKS), which providesinformation on prices and volumes oflivestock for sale in different markets, aswell as meteorological data. Suchcentralized systems are used todisseminate information on prices in anumber of markets for a variety ofproducts and producers and allow sharing

of costs and time spent on searching forinformation, which would otherwise haveto be borne by individual farmers. InDonner's view, this increasing institutionalinvolvement could be one of the mostimportant impacts of these newinformation systems. The institutionsconcerned are thereby brought into close

contact with the smallest enterprises,which are often at the margins of theformal economy. If they can help morefarmers and small entrepreneurs tobecome more productive by reducinginformation costs, inculcating new skills, oradvising consumers, this will be beneficialfor families whose livelihoods depend onenterprise.

This does not, however, imply the birth ofa new paradigm of economic organization.Existing literature suggests that mobilephone use makes enterprises moreproductive and markets bigger and moreefficient, not that the market structures are

fundamentally transformed.

Still focusing on economic aspects, a veryrecent study funded by the World Bankand based on data from 120 countries has

improved access to (Qiang 2009).

Despite these advanevertheless, limits technology can do.

There is a "mobile gap

access to electricitcoverage, income differences in the fumodels designed for So although mobiles for stimulating thecommunities, they alsof opportunity.

An analysis of currentechnology on its ownproblems. It is appliedrelations and developin doing so it cadvantages that mawho have no access mobile technologies thave to be determidirection and qualitydevelopment procemarginalization of poproblems which techsolve. Mobile phonescan only be a he

organization, not a ce

As regards sustainabextension of the innovations and app



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sufficiently useful to tell others about it. Ifusers find a service useful, and there are

enough of them to make it function, theservice will be sustainable.

Establishing links with the objectives andprogrammes of local and nationalgovernments will enhance the durabilityand scope of these new services. Political

will is a key factor in project success.Local organizations and actors are alsokey partners when it comes to ensuringthat a given technology has local support.The mobile phone market, which includes

network and phonepartner but not a

communication secommercialized, and ensuring that the markthe needs of the marginalized populatimportant.

The impact of mobileuses must be evaluperspective of the sbeing sought and thetechnology itself.



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ConclusionIt took 15 years for one quarter ofhumanity to have a mobile telephone(achieved in 2003), and only seven yearsfor 3.8 billion people, half the world'spopulation, to have one39. How long will itbe before most of humanity surfs the

Internet to find solutions to everydayproblems? Almost all future new entrantsto the market live in developing countries.The future, in terms of uses, innovations,technologies and markets for mobiletelephony, is taking shape in the poorcountries. Some 7 million Nigerians surfthe Web using their portable phones.High-speed mobile telephony has been

described by the ITU as the solution to theproblem of inadequate infrastructure40 butwill these services become widespread ifthey require new investment? On the other

39 The mobile industry now has 4.6 billion activesubscriptions. But not all subscriptions areunique users. The total number of unique usersis 3.4 billion people, i.e. exactly half of the

planet. So for contrast - on the planet there are1.2 billion PCs of any kinds including netbooks;1.6 billion TV sets, 1.7 billion Internet users(including those who access at an internet cafeor via a mobile phone); and 3.9 billion FM radioreceivers but 4.6 billion mobile phonesubscriptions. A mobile phone account for 68per cent of the planet already! (5 February,2010, The Big Picture "All the Stats" Total Viewto Mobile Industry, 2010 Edition,

The blog of the book CommunitiesDominate Brands Business and marketingchallenges for the 21st century, by Tomi TAhonen and Alan Moore

hand, the assumptionand services will be windividual users in Afrtrue that the explosionhas surprised everyoperators, who did n

of the widespread povrepeated? If the pricfall, they will sell easmulti-functionality (mupersonal agenda, eveInternet use via mosome more complex or SMS: cost, obquestions relating to

and general utility. Intdeveloping relatively concerns mainly yofrequent Internet caamusement (Chneaucreation and mainInternet access pointsother uses (office w

applications, emails data downloading, and

It is nevertheless cecost barrier were rwould take off in AfSteve Song: "Low cos

a country into a supeeveryone to be aexplosion of innovaIncreasingly, any coucost access is like platform as the train

http://fr.mobiles.tacticaltech.org/en/taxonomy/term/4http://fr.mobiles.tacticaltech.org/en/taxonomy/term/4http://fr.mobiles.tacticaltech.org/en/taxonomy/term/4http://fr.mobiles.tacticaltech.org/en/taxonomy/term/4http://fr.mobiles.tacticaltech.org/en/taxonomy/term/4


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Similarly, States and regulating authoritieshave grasped the crucial role which they

must play to promote an environmentconducive to investment with the aim ofachieving universal access and developinginnovations that will make it possible toattain a critical mass of users41. And there

41 This was clearly expressed at the GlobalSymposium for Regulators in 2009 (GSR09),which defined guidelines on good practices withregard to innovative approaches to regulation ina world characterized by convergence with aview to strengthening the foundations of a globalinformation society;See: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.html.

is no doubt that tinterconnection capa

cables on the Africradically change the operators there to serevenue. The inventmobile voice telephonagain.

42 See the Many possibiregularly updated charconnecting the (http://manypossibilitiescables/).

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/GSR/index.html


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Innovative ways of appropriating mobile telephony in Africa

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