African mobile operators certainly have paved the way for further business development across industries both at corporate and SME level, the infrastructure and services provided have clearly been successful in its own way, however have also provided opportunities for new and existing businesses to develop and transform the way business is conducted in both urban and rural areas. Some of the success stories are as follows: Rural Distribution model Celtel were empowering and making life better…

In 2008 The African continent was seeing its strongest economic growth since the 1970s. 15 African countries entered a second decade in which they posted strong annual economic growth rate of above 5%. Despite strong economic performance, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the only region not on track for achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. In 2009 recession has hit Sub-Saharan Africa, export demand is collapsing and commodity prices- in particular those of oil and base metals-under pres…

The last week of May, 2009, I spent a week off the grid. I went on a fishing trip in Ontario, Canada to a very remote lake. There were no telephones, no cell service, no internet, and not much power. I first began to feel the effects of being off the grid as we drove from St. Paul, MN to Ignace, Ontario. I decided to use my new Magellan. As I entered the destination city and I was surprised to…

Government’s responsibility Local African governments certainly also must review and transform their regulatory framework and work in closer partnership with the industry for affordability, and low cost solutions to network extension, in particular into remote areas; both are needed to ensure the poor can access mobile phones and benefit from services; The Economic crises must be a catalyst for change – Government and mobile operators must work together in transforming their partnership for red…