Rwanda: It Is Cheaper to Call America

8 February 2013
column

We may not realise it now, but the significance of the little device called the mobile phone on our part of the development has been awesome. Its potential is even bigger. As President Paul Kagame put it: "In 10 short years, what was once an object of luxury and privilege, the mobile phone, has become a basic necessity in Africa" (Connect Africa Summit, October 29, 2007).

Since the first hand-held mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Dr Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing around 2.2 pounds (1 kg), the device's usage has grown from 12.4 million to over 6 billion subscribers, penetrating about 87% of the global population and reaching the bottom of the economic pyramid.

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