Article
In the barren surroundings of Kwa Phake in the north-east of South Africa, students from the town used to have to leave the families they often support and travel many miles to attend the University of South Africa. They can now study from home, even receiving exam results, using their mobile phones. Fishermen in Tanzania, meanwhile, use mobiles to get weather reports, and a service has been set up in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, that alerts jobseekers to potential work via text messages. While many people in developed countries use their phones to stave off boredom on public transport, in sub-Saharan Africa a mobile phone can be a passport out of poverty. This article looks at the developmental potential of mobile technology in Africa.