Upwardly Mobile in Africa Analysis - Essay Example

For instance, the people of Muruguru village have been for a long time suffered because of impassable roads; thus difficult to reach customers in the market easily. However, the introduction of mobile phone use has significantly changed their lifestyles because they are nowadays able to reach their customers in the market easily; thus improving their business activities.

Ewing (380) argues that mobile phone use can dramatically improve living standards through saving time on wasted trips, offering information about the prices of the products, and even conducting banking services. It also affects the living standards of people through changing the developing markets faster. There are many millions of mobile subscribers across the globe and the effect of mobile use is more dramatic than in Africa, where mobile technology represents the modern infrastructure (Ewing, 380). The increasing research evidence reveals that access to communications boosts income levels and makes the local economies efficient; thus improving the standards of living (Ewing, 381). Mobile phone use has also fueled the growth of financial services in the global market. This is because many subscribers have nowadays started using mobile money transfer services. Hence, mobile phones have extended financial services to billions of poor citizens, who do not have access to the bank (Ewing, 381). For instance, the M-Pesa services in Kenya, which were launched by Safaricom Company have enabled many clients to make money transfers effectively; thus contributing to economic growth.

However, the mobile phone use in Africa differs from that of the U.S and Europe because it is widely used in developing nations for money transfer more than in the developed nations. This has encouraged many investors from developed nations to invest in poor nations. The local operators operating communal phone services for money transferring business have become profitable in their business such as MTN Company of Uganda (Ewing, 382). Although mobile phones have become widely used in Africa, mobile phone services are costly. Therefore, the residents of rural villages keep conversations extremely short and make heavy use of short text messages to minimize mobile phone costs (Ewing, 382). Some of them flash and hang up after the first call, a strategy that signifies varied prearranged meanings such as call me back.

Despite the benefits of mobile phone use in Africa, there are some negative consequences of mobile use. One of the challenges is that mobile phone use is the focal point for conflicts. For instance, the armed conflicts around the Wabusana village in Uganda resulted because of mobile phone use, which was used for organizing a rebel army. Ewing (382) argues that the spread of technology use is bound to unforeseen consequences. Those living in remote areas where there is a poor network are unable to compete with their competitors in business activities. However, despite these challenges, life has finally become better in many villages because mobile phone use has dramatically changed the life of many people globally.