Write a summary in 150 words Technology started to increase the pace of development in Africa with the introduction of the Global
System for Mobile Communications (GSM) services in the late 1990s. Since then, a cellphone
revolution has made this continent the fastest growing region on Earth for the telecoms industry.
This change has caused governments and people to recognise that they have an opportunity to
improve their economic and social conditions if they can use technology to solve the challenges
facing their countries.
Two years ago, when a potato disease spread across Kenya, a farmer searched the internet for
information about the problem. He discovered that ants were eating his potato stems, and that the
cure for the disease was to sprinkle wood ash on the crop. Two months later, his potatoes were
healthy again. The farmer realised that the time had come to make greater use of the internet, and
by means of a further search he soon found a local buyer for his rescued crop. He now uses a
cellphone linked to the internet to get the latest potato prices.
Life without new communications technology is now hard to imagine in countries throughout
Africa. Whereas twenty years ago in Nigeria, a SIM card cost $100 and local calls cost 33 cents
per minute, you can now buy the card for almost nothing, and cellphone call charges have been
reduced in proportion. Billions of dollars of foreign investment have flooded in, and cellphone
subscriber numbers now already exceed 100 million.
This explosion in cellphone use has created a corresponding explosion in the number of Nigerians
using the internet as a tool to communicate and to do business. It is estimated that more than
31 million Nigerians now access the internet, with 30% or more doing so on their cellphones. Cheap
and instant text messaging services have removed the previously high cost of communicating
with customers. Quick and easy access via the internet has presented many Nigerians with
opportunities to start new businesses.
New technology has the power to influence economic development in many ways. In Ethiopia,
a website has been designed to provide the latest information about global food prices to the
country’s smallholding farmers. Before this, although farmers represented 80% of the country’s
population, they only had information about the value of their produce at local markets. An
automated free telephone service now provides details of updated worldwide prices every minute.
At the same time, cellphone technology is also enabling ordinary people to voice their concerns.
One initiative allows citizens in Mozambique to report local issues via the internet. Problems
reported include broken water pipes in villages, inefficiencies in the legal system and transport
delays. Similarly, in Uganda, university students are able to use their cellphones to register their
complaints by reporting any incidents of poor teaching.
Technology also serves to improve people’s knowledge of the world. Social networks such as
Twitter play a major role in spreading information about important global events. Technology
enables African people to gain a greater share of news coverage and create a worldwide
awareness of what is happening on their continent.
