Steaming up the African Climate:A Decade of GSM in Africa

Quite shocking you might say, but believe it or not, the GSM mobile system of communications only kicked off in Africa about 10 years ago.

What’s pitiful is that in certain areas, making calls is more difficult than sending mails by regular postage.

With a cost slightly too tall for the regular man, there’s still big business in the air for all licensed operators

What pulls off the peacock’s tail is that the higher you get in altitude, the more possible it is to make calls. Sometimes, you need to walk around your city in order to make or receive calls. A man was once overheard saying “I’m giving up Karate and yoga practice because with my new mobile, I’m physically fit.” So if you are lazy and you’ve got plans of picking up your new mobile, you’ve got to budget for the fuel to drive around town. In parts of Bolgatanga, Ghana , and Tiou, Burkina Faso, it appears their mast is attached to the top of a moving Peugeot 504 jalopy and it’s wherever it is that you get signaaaaaaaaaaa  (ooooooooooops, the vehicle just left my street).

Funny? Yes! In Johannesburg, South Africa, having a phone is not luxury, having credit is. In Gambia, flashing friends is now in vogue. Hence, recent reports state that Gambians make cell phone calls with their thumbs on the end button.

Ethiopia is one country I’ve observed texts disappear. Well with its proximity to Somalia, one might suspect those sea pirates are at it again.

Nigeria, with a population exceeding 100 million people, and with the presence of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, (Nigeria’s Electricity Supplier), it’s clear the country is in no need of another epileptic service. Also considering the high efficiency of power and telecommunications in other Caribbean countries such as Jamaica and Trinadad, one could swear “this is not an afro-centric characteristic.”

As far as making a call to an analogue phone is concerned in Rwanda, if you ask us, our reply would be as certain as night comes after day, “IT’S IMPOSSIBLE.”

Getting a mobile phone in Nigeria actually turns you into a temperamental fellow so if you ever get slapped in public, the guy has a mobile phone. Many Nigerians say it’s high time we begin our search for our own indigenous phoning system. Well carry on fellow Nigerians that was the sense in SAP.