Posts tagged with ‘mobiles’
Recent research from ResearchICTAfrica reveals that Kenyans are spending incredible amounts on mobile communication as a proportion of income. Here’s how it breaks down. The average Kenyan spends over 50% of their disposable income on mobile communication. For the bottom 75% of the population, that figure goes up to 63.6%. In terms of total individual income, the average Kenyan spends 16.7% of their income on mobile communication. That figure rises to 26.6% when looking at the bottom 75% of the population. These figures are astounding. It highlights the fact that Africans are paying for mobile communication in spite of how expensive it is, not because of how affordable it is.”
Nathan Eagle gave an excellent 35-minute talk entitled Crowd-Sourcing on Mobile Phones in the Developing World, at the O’Reily Etech Emerging Technology Conference in San Jose, California earlier this month.
If you’re reading these words I presume you have at least a passing interest in modern Africa and the technology shaping it. If you’re not familiar with Nathan Eagle and his work I can highly recommend the above video. Just in case you’ve been put off by its “length”, to whet your appetite here’s a list of some of the things he talks about:
- why in 2006 an MIT research scientist moved to East Africa because he wanted to be where mobile applications are having the greatest effect on people’s lives
- why Kenya is “many years ahead” of Silicon Valley when it comes to developing cutting edge mobile phone applications
- how Africa is the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world
- why the majority of mobile phone users live in developing countries
- why competition amongst mobile telephone operators in some African countries is so great that it is not unusual to see operators giving away free SIM cards
- how you can pay for your cab ride in several East African cities with mobile phones using real time digital bearer settlements (electronic currencies), such as M-PESA
- how Nathan Eagle set up a company to enable mobile phone users to perform simple tasks for corporations in return for small cash payments or free airtime
- which African capital city has tripled in size over the last 4 years
- how examining call data records is helping urban planners design better cities
- which Sub-Saharan mobile phone operator is forecasting revenue of $1 billion in 2009
- how in “Cellphone Alley” you can get a mobile phone assembled before your eyes for 15 dollars
- how and why innovative prepaid models to provide water and electricity are becoming more widespread in Africa
- how 30 % of Rwandans buy their electricity using their mobile phones
