> Don't let the growth rates fool you. Most of it is still related to oil, mining, construction and public works.
I'm very interested in learning about growth in Africa, as there is a lot of potential to raise millions of Africans out of poverty as well as contribute positively to the global economy, and a lot of what I hear makes me optimistic (I think of things like, "Could a rising Africa offset a receding Europe?") This is not the first article I've seen talking about huge growth in cell phones in Africa, though I'm skeptical that "90%" of the continent has one... Is the proliferation of cell phones evidence that Africa is growing generally beyond a few key industries, or does that really not indicate anything interesting?
Cellphones and cellular network are consumption, really.
Though 90% may be high (or they're couting phones per habitants without considering that many of us have multiple phones) the cellphone penetration rate is indeed high.
And when you think about how few landlines there used to be, it's just amazing. Or the whole point is that there were no landlines.
But we're still talking about a consumption market. And we're talking about a case in which technogical progress and the lack of infrastructure allowed us to leapfrog.
The real growth is still driven by the thousands of jobs created directly and indirectly by mining and oil. (even construction and public works depend on revenue from mining and oil)
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> Don't let the growth rates fool you. Most of it is still related to oil, mining, construction and public works.
I'm very interested in learning about growth in Africa, as there is a lot of potential to raise millions of Africans out of poverty as well as contribute positively to the global economy, and a lot of what I hear makes me optimistic (I think of things like, "Could a rising Africa offset a receding Europe?") This is not the first article I've seen talking about huge growth in cell phones in Africa, though I'm skeptical that "90%" of the continent has one... Is the proliferation of cell phones evidence that Africa is growing generally beyond a few key industries, or does that really not indicate anything interesting?
Cellphones and cellular network are consumption, really. Though 90% may be high (or they're couting phones per habitants without considering that many of us have multiple phones) the cellphone penetration rate is indeed high.
And when you think about how few landlines there used to be, it's just amazing. Or the whole point is that there were no landlines.
But we're still talking about a consumption market. And we're talking about a case in which technogical progress and the lack of infrastructure allowed us to leapfrog.
The real growth is still driven by the thousands of jobs created directly and indirectly by mining and oil. (even construction and public works depend on revenue from mining and oil)