Africa 2.0: Inside a continent’s communications revolution
Manchester: Manchester University Press (2022), xii, 294 pp.
Contains illustrations, acronyms pp. x-xxii, glossary pp. 272-273, bibliogr. pp. 278-280, index
ISBN 978-1-5261-5483-5 (ebook); 978-1-5261-5481-1 (hbk)
"Africa 2.0 provides an important history of how two technologies – mobile calling and internet – were made available to millions of sub-Saharan Africans and the impact they have had on their lives. The book deals with the political challenges of liberalisation and privatisation that needed to be in place to get these technologies built. It analyses how the mobile phone fundamentally changed communications in sub-Saharan Africa and the ways Africans have made these technologies part of their lives. It examines critically the technologies’ impact on development practices and the key role development actors played in accelerating things like regulatory reform, fibre roll-out and mobile money. The book considers how corruption in the industry is a prism through which patronage relationships in government can be understood. The arrival of a start-up ecosystem has the potential to break these relationships and offer a new wave of investment opportunities. The author seeks to go beyond the hype to make a provisional assessment of the kinds of changes that have happened over three decades. It examines how and why these technologies became transformative and seem to have opened out a very different future for sub-Saharan Africa." (Publisher description)
Introduction, 1
PART I. TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION: THE SPREAD OF MOBILE CALLING AND INTERNET, 13
Prologue (1986–2004), 15
1 Mobile voice calling booms (1993–2004), 19
2 Bandwidth as the digital economy’s fuel: Getting sub-Saharan Africa connected (1991–2015), 48
3 Cheaper mobile internet and low-cost smartphones come together with apps sub-Saharan Africans want to use (2005–18), 83
PART II. TECHNOLOGY INFLUENCES: USES, BEHAVIOURS AND ABUSES, 107
4 Mobile money: From transferring cash by SMS to a digital payments ecosystem (2000–20), 109-132
5 Sub-Saharan Africans start to live the digital life (2000–20), 133
6 Sprinkling on the magic dust: Digital’s impact on development (1982–2020), 157
7 The ugly underbelly of the communications revolution: corruption, cronyism, regulation and government (1999–2020), 193
PART III. TAKING THE LONG VIEW: START-UP INNOVATION AND COMPLEX BEHAVIOUR CHANGE, 217
8 Sub-Saharan African start-ups: Getting beyond the hype to address deep market challenges (1995–2020), 219
9 Doing complexity: Making sense of what has happened over thirty-five years, 249
PART I. TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION: THE SPREAD OF MOBILE CALLING AND INTERNET, 13
Prologue (1986–2004), 15
1 Mobile voice calling booms (1993–2004), 19
2 Bandwidth as the digital economy’s fuel: Getting sub-Saharan Africa connected (1991–2015), 48
3 Cheaper mobile internet and low-cost smartphones come together with apps sub-Saharan Africans want to use (2005–18), 83
PART II. TECHNOLOGY INFLUENCES: USES, BEHAVIOURS AND ABUSES, 107
4 Mobile money: From transferring cash by SMS to a digital payments ecosystem (2000–20), 109-132
5 Sub-Saharan Africans start to live the digital life (2000–20), 133
6 Sprinkling on the magic dust: Digital’s impact on development (1982–2020), 157
7 The ugly underbelly of the communications revolution: corruption, cronyism, regulation and government (1999–2020), 193
PART III. TAKING THE LONG VIEW: START-UP INNOVATION AND COMPLEX BEHAVIOUR CHANGE, 217
8 Sub-Saharan African start-ups: Getting beyond the hype to address deep market challenges (1995–2020), 219
9 Doing complexity: Making sense of what has happened over thirty-five years, 249
