Very interesting BBC newsnight video (2 parts) about the mobile phone market in Kenya by Paul Mason. Some facts and numbers and the assumption that Africa skips a entire step in the industrial revolution. The journalist discovers Kenya by using the mobile phone coverage map. The fact that normal infrastructure in the country is rubbish, but the mobile network reaches 80% of the people is stunning!

The movie shows a farmer sending SMS to get the market price for his crops and also goes to Kibera (Narobi), Africas second biggest slum, to see what is happing there … like political flash mobs.

The movie also shows M-Pesa, a mobile banking solution by safaricom, Kenyas leading mobile carrier. Obviously there are plans to launch the service Africa wide, which leads to two implications. Huge amounts of money will be “flying” around the continent and people there will all use their phones as wallets and this will be pioneered in Africa.