Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Africa's True Mobile Revolution Has Yet to Start

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I've been reading - usually from well-heeled sources like the World Bank or the Economist - that mobile phones will support the e-learning revolution in Africa. I've always had my doubts, and still do, though two things mitigate those doubts: first, the relative affordability of some of the newer tablet computers, and second, the fact that wireless infrastructure is less expensive to develop than wired. But business models, I fear, do not support widespread access on the world's least wealthy continent. Most of the push has come from the African telecoms themselves. We are told in this article that they are now ready for enterprise deployment. This article is all breathless about the possibilities (and eager to see the end of African socialism in the process). I'm less sanguine.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Dec 25, 2024 08:45 a.m.

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