Connectivity through mobile phones in Africa is growing at a very fast pace. According to recent studies, statistics have showed that nearly 97% of all Tanzanians say they can access a mobile phone, and what is just as interesting, as in many African countries, is how those phones are being used.
Many fishermen carry mobile phones while they are at sea allowing them call for assistance in case of any trouble. They also use their mobiles to check market prices.
One can easily find signals in the remotest places like the slopes of Kilimanjaro and the smallest of villages. Call centres have sprung up all over Tanzania that are connected via GSM rather than landlines.
In Zanzibar, the latest product by the island's cell phone operator, Zantel, is connectivity through the CDMA, which is a wireless system. This system works out as more useful and an effective way of running to the rural areas and to the cities, and is faster than through copper wire or even fibre optics.
Mobile phones seem to have created a new sector of the economy, and arguments have arisen whether the emphasis on the internet when looking at the digital divide is pertinent or not? The West has started to look to Africa and the developing world for new ideas as to where to take the technology next.
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