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Do cellphones outnumber light bulbs in Uganda?
Hat tip goes to the always-impressive Rachel Strohm.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on November 5, 2009 at 12:25 PM in Data Source | Permalink
Comments
So how do they charge their phones? Is there good cell coverage? Who owns the towers?
Posted by: Bergamot at Nov 5, 2009 12:54:35 PM
That article seems to be saying that
1. if someone lives in a slum, she does not have access to electricity. Not quite-- slums may be in areas with a poor supply of electricity, but if they are in areas that have power grids, they can almost always use light bulbs at night, notwithstanding the quality of power supply.
2. people don't buy electricity because it's too expensive. True-- they just steal electricity from the main power lines.
Still, I wouldn't be surprised if the conclusion of the post were in fact true. To charge their phones, people could pay someone in the slum who does have electricity. Sort of like a functioning-electric-socket renting facility.
Posted by: Akshay at Nov 5, 2009 4:33:30 PM
I have spent time in rural Uganda, and have seen villages where this is definitely true.
Bergamot, there are little roadside kiosks at larger settlements that cell phone time by the minute and recharges. A rural Ugandian would think nothing of walking, biking, or taking a bus many miles to attend to buy, sell, and load up his phone.
Posted by: David Wright at Nov 5, 2009 8:53:26 PM
It isn't just true in Uganda but most of Africa, parts of Central and South America, Pakistan, India, etc, etc, etc.
For bergamot,
Some of the multi-country cell phone companies operating in Africa are MTN of South Africa, Zain of Bahrain, Etisalat of UAE, Orascom of Egypt and Millicom domiciled in Luxemburg. There are also quite a few 1 country operators. In Nigeria, the largest country by population in Africa, there are 5 operators.
In areas were there is no or intermittent power, cell towers are operated by diesel generators. Cell towers will also have a charging station available so individuals can charge their phones. This charging station also helps the operators because the local population is incentivized to protect the tower from theft as they use it every day, even if they may be a costumer of a competitor.
The infrastructure is built by Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE or Huawai so quality it isn't any worse than anywhere else for the most part. (Alcatel/Lucent shoud be in there somewhere as well but I've never heard any of the operators mention them.) Usually I find coverage better in developing markets than in the US - which I ascribe to fewer NIMBY issues blocking optimum network layout.
This isn't just Africa but anywhere there is limited power infrastructure the network is built like this. Africa is about the only place left in the world where there is still limited coverage - all major urban markets are completely covered though. But give it about 2 more years and you will pretty much have cell phone coverage almost any city in the world you go.
Posted by: asiequana at Nov 5, 2009 10:33:12 PM
