Credemus Associates

The Rise and Rise of Mobile Phones in Africa

We within Credemus Associates are fully aware of the huge impacts that mobile phones are having on mobile money transfer, health services, within countering extremism programmes and in the registration of births and deaths just to name a few of the social projects where mobiles are having an impact.

The rise of mobiles in Africa just seems to steamroller on. For example, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco have over 71% mobile coverage in the countries, with countries like Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Niger and Mali having between 21-70% of their respective countries being covered by mobile networks. Who would think that Somalia, for example, war ravaged and destroyed by war and famine, would have such mobile infrastructure in place. Yet, in does, thanks in part to the business entrepreneurism of Somalis who are particularly adept at setting up telephone and internet facilities through micro-businesses in the country. This entrepreneurism has remained under the radar of Western countries who simply cannot see the huge potential and opportunities to support the development of Somalia and even to engage with these networks to counter war and extremism within the country.

SMS for example, has been used by Al Shabaab in Somalia to mobilise troops and to provide orders to units. This in itself shows the pervasiveness of mobiles and since they are easy to use and since they can be carried, they have become the natural medium of communication in developing countries.  The future of mobiles in Africa is going to take off and given that Near Field Technology will be coming into effect, the next 20 years will see Africa at the forefront of interactive mobile NFT engagement.

A Revolution Sweeping Developing Countries