December 8, 2003
SMS Out of Africa
This article in IOL is about the the World Summit on the Information Society, opening in Geneva on Wednesday, "aiming to reduce the digital divide between rich and poor.
And how Africa needs to log on immediately if it wants to connect to the rest of the world - a formidable task in a region where vast areas do not have electricity, telephones or computers.
But Africa's biggest advance has been in cellphones, where the service providers are often foreign companies.
The number of mobile phones in Africa has shot up from about one million in 1996 to nearly 30 million in 2002, according to experts.
But even in South Africa, the most advanced in the sector, there are only 190 cellphones for every 1'000 people against 727 for 1 000 in Britain.
"Cellphones are now being increasingly used for SMS or mobile phone text messages - a cheap and quick option for staying in touch".
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