Amazing growth of mobile subs in Africa

I find it sad that when we say EMEA for Europe, Middle East, and Africa, we really only concentrate on Europe, secondarily on the Middle East, and never on Africa.

But, wake up folks! See the link below to a brief story on how fast mobile is growing in Africa. And I read in Business Week that Nokia sold 15 Million Nokia 1100 phones in 3Q05. Also, Nokia sent out a carefully positioned press release highlighting that it sold it’s billionth phone, a Nokia 1100, in Nigeria.

And how many of these folks (will ever) use a PC?

SMS and voice (and maybe browsing) will be the core use case of the next 1 billion phones and all we do is think we’re smart with all these fancy schWeb2.0 PC-based browser services or smartphone apps that weigh a ton.

Eh.

I know Ethan always knew this. He’s told me some cool stuff he’s done with mobiles in Africa and he so gets it.

Link: AngolaPress – News.

The number of mobile telephone subscribers in Africa has risen from 8 million, five years ago, to 100 million, Kenya`s information and communication minister Mutahi Kagwe said here Tuesday.