What Cell Phones Reveal About the Failures of Government: New at Reason

Until recently almost all African countries had state-owned and state-run telecommunications monopolies. Some, including Kenya and Zambia, still retain a monopoly on the provision of landline services. No wonder, therefore, that the number of fixed telephone lines in Africa peaked in 2009 at 4 lines per 100 people. In Tanzania, there is just one landline per 100 people. The vast majority of Africans, in other words, never had reliable means of calling a doctor or a loved one. The rise of the cell phone, however, observes Marian Tupy, changed all that.

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