Article
Only a decade ago many southern Africans thought a mobile phone was a luxury reserved for rich chief executives of multinational companies. The rapid expansion of mobile phone networks has changed this but some challenges remain, particularly in making the service more user-friendly. In a region where telecommunication services have at best been erratic, mobile phone services was until recently out of reach for many people. This was partly because of the prohibitive costs of handsets. Today people are able to buy handsets at less than 50 US dollars thanks to increased competition in the mobile phone network industry. This comprehensive article looks at the proliferation of mobiles across the African continent.