Report
This paper, delivered at the “Wireless Communication and Development: A Global Perspective” workshop in October 2005, examines the growth in mobile networks in Africa – stressing the “considerable variation between different African countries’ adoption and use of these technologies, ranging from the fairly advanced status of South Africa to the relatively under-developed status of Somalia”. In general, though, growth in mobile telephony on the continent has been rapid in the last 8 years, due in large part to telecommunications sector reforms. In fact, the demand for these services has overtaken that of fixed line services.