Congo's mobile phone revolution signals a way out of poverty

11 March 2009 | 15:42 - By Stefano Boscutti

Increased access to handsets is transforming millions of lives in Africa.

congosmobile_1001433419

More than half the global population now pay to use a mobile phone, according to a new UN report. With this surge in users has come a huge expansion in the mobile services available, from instant money transfers to public health advice to internet access. The fastest growth has been in Africa, where people such as Deograsias Mukeba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, now find their phones indispensable.

http://www.theage.com.au/world/congos-mobile-phone-revolution-signals-a-way-out-of-poverty-20090303-8ncr.html
http://eprom.mit.edu/whyafrica.html

Share article: 
top

Comments (2)

25 Aug 2009 21:46 AEST

Free SMS

From: charltonjutice@gmail.com

COngo's mobile Revolution

Hello guys,here im putting some useful information, Mobile phones have changed Congo irrevocably, especially Goma. The country has only about 20,000 landlines after the system collapsed under Mobutu Sese Seko's ruinous dictatorship. [url=ttp://www.freebiesms.com.au/]Free SMS[/url]

Agree (0 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 

25 Mar 2009 0:44 AEST

Marie-Laure

From: NSW Sydney

just one thing...

I can't believe cell-phone change life even in Africa poorest countries. Tht's a great technology: improvement ! It is like a poor farmer who has only one hen but this one hen is laying gold eggs...

Agree (0 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 

Join the discussion

You have characters remaining.
Validation (
) :
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.

PLEASE NOTE: All submitted comments become the property of SBS. We reserve the right to edit and/or amend submitted comments. HTML tags other than paragraph, line break, bold or italics will be removed from your comment.

About this Blog

New New Media looks at how our mediascape is exploding to bits. How the latest technology and the internet are changing the way we live, work and play. How the latest media is shaping us all.

Stefano Boscutti is an executive creative director and strategist. He's like a better looking version of Todd Sampson. He also has an abiding faith that stories and wordplay (and not powerpoint presentations) will change the world.

 
ADVERTISEMENT