A bit off topic, but interesting.
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http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20090302/tc_nm/us_technology_un
“Mobile phone growth helps poorer states: U.N. (Reuters)”
Posted on Mon Mar 2, 2009 4:40AM EST
SNIPPET: “GENEVA (Reuters) - Two thirds of the world’s cell phone subscriptions are in developing nations, with the highest growth rate in Africa where a quarter of the population now has a mobile, a United Nations agency said on Friday.
While just 1 in 50 Africans had a mobile in the year 2000, now 28 percent have a cellular subscription, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
The world has more than three times more mobile cellular subscriptions than fixed telephone lines, and in some countries in Asia and Europe people have more than one contract each, pushing the mobile access rate above 100 percent.
In its Measuring the Information Society report, the ITU said the Internet is far less accessible in poorer parts of the world, for instance in Africa where just 5 percent of the population now uses the Internet.”
Hat Tip: Tiger Likes Rooster
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2222216/posts
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Off Topic, but interesting.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4352642.cms
“China-made mobiles will go dead soon”
3 Apr 2009, 0346 hrs IST, Vinay Madhav, TNN
SNIPPET: “BANGALORE: China-made mobile handsets that have flooded the grey market are to be phased out within the next 10 days. These handsets are seen as
a security threat, prompting the move.
The department of telecommunication has sent a communication to Cellular Operators Association of India asking them to block services to handsets that have 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers. It is only the Chinese mobiles that have 15-digit numbers; other handsets come with 16-digit IMEIs.
The problem arises because on service providers’ computers, the Chinese handsets show up as having an endless list of digits as their IMEI numbers.
Due to this, these handsets cannot be traced. Also, it has been found that usually over 1,000 of these handsets share a single IMEI number. This has posed a big problem for the police.
Whenever criminals changed their numbers, or in cases of cellphone thefts, police used to track them through IMEI numbers. Chinese phones make that virtually impossible.
Recently, COAI made a representation to the government explaining the problem. The DoT, which took the issue seriously, directed COAI to stop mobile phone services to persons having Chinese handsets.”