February 20, 2007
Mobile phone lifeline for world's poor
Of the one million people who become new mobile phone subscribers everyday, about 85% live in emerging markets, according to the mobile phone industry body, the GSMA, reports the BBC.
"From Kampala to Mombasa, handset sellers are plying their trade - some based in small kiosks, others sheltering from the blazing sunshine under large, colourful umbrellas.
An enormous number of people, including taxi drivers and tradesmen, now rely on mobile phones to run their small businesses - well over 80% in Egypt and South Africa alone, according to a report by the UN's Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).
The mobile phone boom has transformed ordinary people into micro-entrepreneurs, like the Village Phone Program in Bangladesh.
A ground-breaking study led by an expert from the London Business School in 2005 concluded that an increase of 10 mobile phones per 100 people in African developing countries would increase GDP growth by 0.6%."
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