Now this is ninja. Erik has set up African Signals, a wiki to gather information about mobile networks in Africa. This is a great idea that will definitely benefit from a crowdsourced approach, and I hope that it builds into a vital resource for everybody working in Africa, private and public sector alike. It’s one of those ideas that seems so simple, but it’s unlikely any single person could put it together – but drawing on the expertise of people working around the continentcan achieve it fairly quickly and keep it updated more effectively. So what can we all do, Erik?
Your Job:
Find your country and enter whatever you know about your local costs, speeds and service levels for mobile phone operators and internet service providers (ISPs).
Take 5 minutes and jump see if you can add anything new, or if the info is correct. Then, tell your tech friends from that country too, share this. It’s a resource, something for you to give to and to take from. It is strengthened by your information, and I hope that you in turn will benefit from it too one day.
In similar vein, Steve Song has a table of SMS costs in Africa in 2008, drawn from the ITU Measuring the Information Society report – also worth checking out.