TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: For Millions of Africans, Cellphones Signal a Change

For Millions of Africans, Cellphones Signal a Change

Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)
Sun, 16 Jul 2006 22:03:40 -0400

By Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Until not long ago, if Zadhe
Iyombe wanted to talk to his mother, he had to make the eight-day boat
trip up the Congo River to the jungle town where he was raised. In a
country with almost no roads, mail, or telephone system and a grisly
guerrilla war raging, making that exhausting and dangerous trip was
about the only way he could find out whether his 59-year-old mother
was still alive.

Then he got a cellphone.

Now he talks to his mother every day. And once a week, he uses a text
message to transfer five minutes of airtime to her phone to make sure
she can always call him.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2006/07/16/for_millions_of_africans_cellphones_signal_a_change/

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