Worldreader: For Kids in Africa, a New Way to Learn

This article splashed on Amazon.com's website details another "digital leap" initiative. Money quote:

"Why Kindles? Susan explains: “The Kindle is a device that was made for you and me to use on the bus and at night in our beds, but it’s a device that actually meets the needs of the developing world very nicely. Kindles have become increasingly affordable, the battery-life can be as long as a month, and they are easily recharged using wind or solar energy. Since they use cell-phone networks to operate, which are already omnipresent even in the remotest parts of Africa, they don’t require new infrastructure in the schools. And the kids can read them outside, even in the brightest sunlight. Best of all,” continues Susan, “one Kindle holds more than a thousand books, and new books can be downloaded in 60 seconds. That means printing costs disappear, and shipping gets reduced to nearly nothing. Suddenly it becomes feasible to imagine every child having access not only to books, but to a choice between thousands of books from all over the world.”

 This initiative beautifully underscores the argument for connectivity (access) in driving the "digital leap" in developing countries. 

Africa: I.T. infrastructure a catalyst to growth

Vinod Kumar of Tata observes on his blog that infrastructure is the catalyst for a fully connected Africa. I couldn't agree more:

Growing Africa’s connectivity is the key to nurturing Africa’s technology development. African governments and the private sector are investing heavily in communications infrastructure, with an estimated $21 billion being plowed into telecom-related infrastructure. This investment has been put to use on project such as EASSY (Eastern Africa Submarine cable system) and WACS (West Africa Cable System), which help grow the communications market in Africa and support further technological progress.

Vinod's view mirrors my own experiences in Ghana where bandwidth continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, unlike Lesotho where bandwidth prices fell by 67%, Ghana is yet to benefit from the added bandwidth. This is attributable mostly to last mile challenges, but I also suspect some collusion among the few dominant ISPs with the resources to leverage the improved bandwidth, while continuing to keep prices artificially high for now. 

Lesotho Internet Prices drop by 67%

Internet access in Lesotho got a big boost with the arrival of the new undersea cable, IT News Africa reports. According to the article:

For consumers, mobile Internet services are being made more affordable to a wider section of the population through significantly reduced charges. “Until recently, Internet access in Lesotho terminated in South Africa and was shaped and thus limited in international capacity. The connection provided by WIOCC terminates in Europe and provides Lesotho with faster and more affordable connectivity. This change will have a significant impact on the daily lives of the Basotho and Lesotho businesses,” explained WIOCC CEO, Chris Wood.

One step closer to having smartphones in every village.