Mobiles, innovation, Africa

“Innovation around the mobile phone is particularly interesting in Africa, often because it is born out of necessity”.

Over the past week, the BBC have been covering the arrival of the Seacom fibre optic cable off the coast of East Africa, focusing on Kenya initially and today moving on to Rwanda. Their excellent coverage – video, news, blogs, photos and opinion – is all brought together in a new “Connected Africa” section of their website.

BBC Online

A few weeks ago, the Editor of the BBC News Technology site asked if I could contribute an article highlighting the innovative use of mobile technology in East Africa. With all the excitement around the new bandwidth revolution, it might have been easy to forget the mobile revolution. As the BBC put it, “If you want to see how east Africa may respond to the arrival of high-speed internet links, look no further than the mobile phone market”.

The featured article, or ‘Viewpoint’ – “Mobiles offer lifelines in Africa” – can be read here.

NEWS: kiwanja.net guest article published on BBC News website

BBC News have just published a guest article by kiwanja.net on the “Technology” and “Science/Nature” pages of its website. Ken Banks was approached to write the article after the recent launch of the latest FrontlineSMS, and increasing exposure of kiwanja’s work. The article looks at the broader use of mobile technology in conservation and development work, and highlights the current use of FrontlineSMS in Malawi. The full article – entitled “Mobile development rings true” – can be read here