Africa’s New Hope

There are now 415 million mobile subscribers in Africa, and a third of the world’s 4 billion users are in the developing world. India and China alone added 700 million new users between 2000 and 2007, and the numbers continue to rise. Among the many ramifications of this change, perhaps the biggest is economic. Now, not only can people reach out and touch their friends and family, they can also talk to business partners, get market reports and find clients. Mobile technology provides a significant boost to the incomes of those on the bottom rung of the ladder.