Day 2 at Digital Africa has covered a variety of topics in sunny Kampala today.
Most of the talks covered how wireless application and innovation is needed to connect the wider African community with Internet, with only about 6% + Internet penetration. In Uganda it is alot lower and it was highlighted that the government are too slow in connecting schools in Uganda which is critical if kids are to be educated and help develop Uganda as they grow older.
SMS the killer application
Interestingly with all the high tech talk going on about 3G, wireless and infrastructure, it was highlighted that SMS is still the killer application in Africa. Good to hear what we have always believed at FMNA, the key focus must be on the 80% of the African market who cannot afford a smart phone or a data contract.
These people need to be connected now and cannot wait for prices to come down or connectivity to improve for this to happen. Thankfully our two way email and chat service on every mobile phone is helping to bridge this digital divide NOW and we look forward to connecting all Africans.
Tags: 8 th Digital Africa Summit, chat to sms, digital, digital africa, digital divide debate, email to sms, internet penetration in Africa, SMS
