The overtaking has already happened. With 650 million units, the Dark Continent has surpassed the United States and Europe in the number of mobile phones in circulation. A revolution born to combat the costs and difficulties of installing fixed lines, which allows and requires the (not always easy) cooperation of governments, the private sector, social enterprises, associations and individuals.
The multiplication of mobile devices, which in the West sometimes has the value of a futile whim, in these parts means being able to access previously unattainable services. The case of mobile money transfer is a good example. "A large number of Kenyans live in big cities and send money to their families of origin - explains to the French newspaper Waceke Mbugua, marketing and communication manager of Safaricom, the first operator in Kenya - not having bank accounts, they have to deliver wads of cash to bus drivers.” In 2007, Safaricom launched M-Pesa (pesa means money in Swahili), with the help of Vodafone and the British government. The sums in transit are equivalent to a third of GDP, when most transfers are less than 40 euro cents. According to the Gallup research center, today 66 percent of money transfers in Kenya are made via mobile phone (banks, for the record, are stuck at 2 percent) and Africa is in the lead for this type of transaction.
The mobile revolution could drive the development of the continent. According to a recent report by the GSMA, the main association of mobile operators, a doubling in the use of mobile phones for accessing services translates into an increase of half a percentage point of GDP per inhabitant.
