Halfway There

Article

An Economist article examines efforts to extend mobile phone ownership to the roughly half of the world’s population still without a phone, as global subscriptions approach 3.3 billion. It highlights strategies such as sub-$30 handsets from Motorola, Bangladesh’s “telephone ladies” who rent out shared phones, low-cost shared base-station models like Nokia Siemens Networks’ “Village Connection,” and Ericsson’s biofuel-powered base-stations with Indian operator Idea Cellular, while also flagging how heavy mobile-specific taxation in countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa can suppress adoption.