Assessing the African mobile telephony boom : the impact of the mobile phone and its relationship to the digital divide

This dissertation provides an overview of the boom in mobile telephony in Africa, experienced in terms of exceptional and increasing subscriber growth. It provides a description of the mobile telephony boom, as well as its social political and economic impacts. It investigates what effect mobile telephony has had on the bridging of a broader digital divide, conceived of in terms of inequalities in access to information and communication technologies between Africa and the rest of the world, as well within Africa itself. It concludes that the boom in mobile telephony has had far-reaching impacts on the continent at all levels of African society. In particular, mobile phones have had a significant economic impact on the continent, which the author argues has been from the bottom up -affecting greatly the base of the economic pyramid and the informal sector. Mobile telephony has however not made a significant impact in the bridging of the digital divide conceived of in terms of access to the internet. A broader digital divide still exists which mobile telephony may not provide the tools to bridge.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Political Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Comninos, Alex

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Schrire, Robert

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3791

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/3791