Mobile

Mobile devices are quickly becoming the main tool for Internet access in Africa. Below are a variety of articles focusing on how mobile Internet and mobile broadband are contributing to the development of societies all over the continent:

  1. “The Impacts of Emerging Mobile Data Services in Developing Countries,” A4AI, Research Brief No. 1, November 2015. {A4AI}
  2. “The Mobile App Divide,” Michael Kende, Nov 17, 2015. {ISOC}
  3. “Using mobile phones to track ongoing trends in food market functionality,” GeoPoll and FEWS NET, 2015. {GeoPoll}
  4. Ntawanga, Felix F.; Calitz, Andre P.; and Barnard, Lynette (2015) “A Context-Aware Model to Improve Usability of Information Display on Smartphone Apps for Emerging Users,” The African Journal of Information Systems: Vol. 7: Iss. 4, Article 3. {AJIS}
  5. Olasina, Gbolahan (2015) “Factors Influencing The Use of M-Banking by Academics: Case Study SMS-based M-Banking,” The African Journal of Information Systems: Vol. 7: Iss. 4, Article 4. {AJIS}
  6. “‘Telephone farmers’ reaping the benefits of agri-tech,” Tom Jackson, BBC News, Jul 31, 2015. {BBC}
  7. “Africa Blazes a Trail in Mobile Money,” Hans Kuipers, Mikael Michiels, Michael Seeberg, bcg.perspectives, Feb 12, 2015. {BCG}
  8. “How Mobile Phone Data Reveals Food Consumption Patterns in Central Africa,” MIT Technology Review, Dec 17, 2014. {Tech Review}
  9. Gajjala, R., & Tetteh, D. (2014). Relax, you’ve got M-PESA: Leisure as empowerment [ICTs for Leisure in Development Special Issue]. Information Technologies & International Development, 10 (3), 31–46. {ITID}
  10. “Mobiles for development in Africa: Are we in danger of losing sight of the bigger picture?” Kutoma J. Wakunuma, Feminist Africa, pp. 131-139. {DORA}
  11. “Connecting in mobile communities: an African case study,” Mirjam de Bruijn, Media Culture & Society, April 2014, vol. 36, no. 3, 319-335. {MCS}
  12. “Sub-Saharan Africa: A major potential revenue opportunity for digital payments”, Jake Kendall, Robert Schiff, and Emmanuel Smadja, McKinsey & Company, Feb 2014. {McKinsey}
  13. “Expanding horizons: LTE in Africa establishes foothold,” Mike Hibberd, Jan 13, 2014. {Telecoms.com}
  14. “GSM and Dynamic Spectrum,” Steve Song, Jan 3, 2014. {Many Possibilities}
  15. “Serving Communities on the Cusp of Change,” TA Telecom, Nov 2013. {Docshare}
  16. “Evaluating socio-economic state of a country analyzing airtime credit and mobile phone datasets,” Thoralf Gutierrez, Gautier Krings, Vincent D. Blondel. ARXIV, Sept 17, 2013. {arXiv.org}
  17. “South Africa mHealth Feasibility Report,” Pan-African mHealth Initiative, GSMA, Sept 2013. {GSMA}
  18. “You don’t need an app for that,” Toby Shapshak, TEDGlobal 2013. {TED}
  19. “How Mobile Technology is Transforming Africa,” Rudy De Waele, Jul 3, 2013. {Slideshare}
  20. “How BoP in Kenya Use Phones for Income Generation: Videos,” Rachel Gichinga, *iHub, Jun 21, 2013. {*iHub}
  21. “Is mobile money becoming a commonplace rather than a differentiator?,” Claire Penicaud, GSMA, Mar 21, 2013. {GSMA}
  22. 4G African Broadband Forum White Papers, 2007-2012. {4G Africa}
  23. “The Mobile Phone in Africa: Has It Become a Highway to the Information Society or Not?,” Elirea Bornman, Contemporary Educational Technology, 2012, 3(4), 278-292. {CED Tech}
  24. “Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory 2012,” Deloitte & GSMA, Nov 13, 2012. {GSMA}
  25. Donovan, K. P. and Martin, A. K. (2012). The Rise of African SIM Registration: Mobility,Identity, Surveillance & Resistance. Information Systems and Innovation Group Working Paper no. 186, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. {Academia.edu}
  26. “The Informationalization of Poverty in Africa? Mobile Phones and Economic Structure,” Pádraig Carmody, ITID, Vol 8, Issue 3, Fall 2012. {ITID}
  27. “An analysis of Mobile Technology in West Africa: The Case Of Nigeria, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire,” TwinPine/iHub Research, October 2012. {iHub}
  28. “Bigger Cities, Smaller Screens: Urbanization, Mobile Phones, and Digital Media Trends in Africa,” Adam Clayton Powell III, CIMA/NED, Sept 18, 2012. {CIAO}
  29. “Africa embracing m-commerce,” Ericsson, Aug 28, 2013. {Ericsson}
  30. “The future of education in Africa is mobile,” BBC Future, Aug 24, 2012. {BBC}
  31. “M-Commerce in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Ericsson Consumer Insight Summary Report, ConsumerLab, Ericsson, August 2012. {Ericsson}
  32. “Maximizing Mobile 2012,” World Bank & infoDev, 2012. {World Bank}
  33. “Mobile Money for Business Development in the East African Community,” UNCTAD, 2012. {UNCTAD}
  34. “How Kenya became a world leader for mobile money,” Wolfgang Fengler, World Bank Blogs, Jul 16, 2012. {blogs.worldbank.org}
  35. “Africa’s True Mobile Revolution Has Yet to Start,” Bright B. Simons, Harvard Business Review, Jul 4, 2012. {HBR Blogs}
  36. “The Invisible Bank: How Kenya Has Beaten the World in Mobile Money,” Ken Banks, National Geographic NewsWatch, Jul 4, 2012. {NatGeo}
  37. “Understanding Broadband Demand in Africa: Internet Going Mobile,” Alison Gillwald, Research ICT Africa, May 2012. {RIA}
  38. “Shaping The Future – Realising the potential of informal learning through mobile,” GSMA, May 2012. {GSMA}
  39. “Potential of Learning with Mobiles in Africa,” John Traxler, May 2012. {WISE-Qatar}
  40. “Mobile Africa Report 2012,” MobileMonday, April 2012. {MobileMonday}
  41. “19 recommendations for spectrum management for mobile broadband revolution: GSMA,” Telecom Lead, May 16, 2012. {Telecom Lead}
  42. “Mobile phones are getting smarter in rural Africa,” Africa Renewal, April 2012, page 29. {UN}
  43. “Disruptive Innovation in the African Tech Context,” Will Mutua, Afrinnovator, Mar 30, 2012. {Afrinnovator}
  44. “Live Blog: Mobile Web East Africa 2012,” Mark Kaigwa, Afrinnovator, Feb 22, 2012. {Afrinnovator}
  45. Zurovac D, Talisuna AO, Snow RW (2012) Mobile Phone Text Messaging: Tool for Malaria Control in Africa. PLoS Med 9(2): e1001176. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001176. {PLOS}
  46. “Kenya’s Startup Boom,” David Talbot, Technology Review, March/April 2012. {Technology Review}
  47. “The mobile application developer community,” Jon Hoehler, ITWeb, Jan 30, 2012. {ITWeb}
  48. “Insights into Mobile Telecoms in Africa,” Jon Hoehler & Andrew McHenry, Jan 23, 2012. {SlideShare: jonhoehler}
  49. “Afrique: la course à la 3G est lancée,” Agence Ecofin, Jan 6, 2012. {Ecofin}
  50. “Selecting Mobile ICT Devices for Agriculture Services and Applications in sub-Saharan Africa,” USAID, December 2011. {Agrilinks.org}
  51. “Africa: The road to m-government,” James Middleton, Telecoms.com, Nov 21, 2011. {Telecoms.com}
  52. “Driving Economic and Social Development through Mobile Services,” African Mobile Observatory, 2011. {GSMA}
  53. “Mobile Learning Handbook,” ADL, 2011. {ADL}
  54. “Texting, Tweeting, Mobile Internet: New Platforms for Democratic Debate in Africa,” Tom Serrazin, fesmedia Africa & Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2011. {fesmedia}
  55. “Insights into the Mobile Internet in Africa,” Jon Hoehler, Jul 2011. {SlideShare: jonhoehler}
  56. “mobileYouth South Africa Whitepaper,” mobileYouth, Jun 2011. {SlideShare: mobileyouth}
  57. “The mobile world: 10 surprising facts about Nokia in Africa,” Nokia Nseries Blog, Jun 22, 2011. {conversations.nokia.com}
  58. “Making broadband accessible to all,” Vodafone, The Policy Paper Series – Number 12 – May 2011. {Vodafone}
  59. “M-PESA and Mobile Money in Kenya,” Josh Weinstein, Develop Economies, May 31, 2011. {Develop Economies}
  60. “Exploring Mobile-only Internet Use: Results of a Training Study in Urban South Africa,” Jonathan Donner, Shikou Gitau, Gary Marsden, International Journal of Communication 5 (2011), 574–597. {pubs.cs.uct.ac.za}
  61. “Mobile Trends 2020 Africa,” Erik Hersman, Ken Banks, Rude De Waele, April 2011. {SlideShare: rudydw}
  62. “Mobile Africa Report 2011: Regional Hubs of Excellence and Innovation,” Dr. Madanmohan Rao/MobileMonday, March 2011. {Mobile Monday}
  63. “ICTs in rural development,” Samantha Fleming, 2011. {afrosocialmedia} Written for the annual South African publication on developments in the corporate social investment arena.
  64. “Are mobile phone penetration rates in Sub-Saharan Africa really as low as they seem?” Balancing Act, Jan 28, 2011. {Balancing Act}
  65. “A social media boom begins in Africa, Africa Renewal Magazine, December 2010. {UN}
  66. “Why Have Mobile Phones Succeeded Where Other Technologies Have Not?” Jenny Aker, Global Development: Views from the Center, Nov 3, 2010. {blogs.cgdev.org}
  67. “Mobile Technologies for Social Transformation,” Peter Holt, Nimbus Consulting Ltd., September 2010. {Nimbus}
  68. “The Future of Mobile in Africa,” Rudy De Waele, September 2010. {SlideShare: rudydw}
  69. Donovan, K., & Donner, J. (2010). A note on the availability (and importance) of pre-paid mobile data in Africa. In J. Svensson & G. Wicander (Eds.), 2nd International Conference on Mobile Communication Technology for Development (M4D2010) (pp. 263-267). Karlstad, Sweden: Karlstad University. {Blurring Borders}
  70. “Connecting Africa,” Forbes, Jul 29, 2010. {Forbes}
  71. “Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa,” Jenny C. Aker and Isaac M. Mbiti, Center for Global Development, June 2010. {CGDev}
  72. “Cell vs. Internet: The Impact on Democratization in Africa,” Patience Akpan-Obong, Nicholas O. Alozie, William Foster. 2010. {fosterandbrahm.com}
  73. “Fascinating trends of mobile web and implications for web 2.0 for development,” Web2forDev, Nov 10, 2009. {web2fordev.net}
  74. “ICT4D: When mobile phones link with computers,” Global Voices Online, Oct 20, 2009. {GlobalVoices}
  75. “Africa surviving on mobile high-speed internet connections,” BroadbandBlogged.co.uk, Oct, 2009. {BroadbandBlogged.co.uk}
  76. “Beyond Voice, The Economist, Sept 24, 2009. {The Economist}
  77. “Mobile Broadband Internet in Africa”, Aug 7,2009. {White African}
  78. “Africa: Mobile Internet Taking Off”, AfricaFocus Bulletin, May 5, 2009. {AfricaFocus}
  79. “New paths: exploring mobile-centric internet use in South Africa,” J Donner, S Gitau, May 2009. {citeseerx.ist.psu.edu}
  80. “The Mobile Broadband Opportunity in Emerging Markets,” Booz & Co., 2007. {Booz & Company}
  81. “Incremental infrastructure, or how mobile phones might wire Africa,” Ethan Zuckerman, Jul 2, 2007. {My Heart’s in Accra}
  82. “3G Wireless Technology Challenges,” William Hearmon, Chairman African 3G Forum, Jan 9, 2007. {4G Africa Forum}
  83. “CDMA2000 for Developing Markets,” CDMA Development Group, Jan 2007. {CDG}
  84. “African Cellular Systems Overview,” Last updated May 2006. {Cellular.co.za}
  85. “Can the ubiquitous power of mobile phones be used to improve health outcomes in developing countries?”, Warren A. Kaplan, Globalization and Health 2006, 2:9 {Globalization and Health}
  86. “Does mobile technology hold the key to widening access to ICTs in Africa?, Cellular.co.za, 2000. {Cellular.co.za}