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Cellphone subscriptions approach five-billion mark

By | April 12, 2010, 9:29 PM PDT

There are now almost as many cell phone subscriptions as there are people on the planet. A New York Times report by Anand Giridharadas describes how cheap, ubiquitous cell phone service is giving rise to a range of new opportunities in every corner of the globe, from text messaging to financial transactions.

“The number of mobile subscriptions in the world is expected to pass five billion this year, according to the International Telecommunication Union, an intergovernmental organization. That would mean more human beings today have access to a cellphone than the United Nations says have access to a clean toilet.”

Ironically, Giridharadas concludes, cell phone adoption lags in the United States, where people are more enamored with high-end devices and computers. In addition, developing nations that lacked land-line infrastructures have leap-frogged to wireless technology via cell phone towers.

Examples of cell phone services across the globe include the following:

  • Job-hunting: Babajob, in Bangalore, India, and Souktel, in the Palestinian  territories, offer job-hunting services via simple text messages.
  • Personal finance: Services such as PesaPal and M-Pesa in Kenya convert cash into cellphone money at local businesses. “This money can instantly be wired to anyone with a phone.” Such services are not common in the United States.

As mentioned previously at this blogsite, the proliferation of cell phone technology has opened up greater opportunities for workers and companies alike. For example, txteagle, which distributes work to mobile cell-phone users across the globe to handle image, audio and text-based tasks. txteagle is now one of Kenya’s largest employers, employing a 10,000-strong workforce is a network of freelancers.

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Joe McKendrick

About Joe McKendrick

Joe McKendrick is a contributing editor for SmartPlanet.

Joe McKendrick

Joe McKendrick

Contributing Editor, Business

Joe McKendrick is an independent analyst who tracks the impact of information technology on management and markets. He is the author of the SOA Manifesto and has written for Forbes, ZDNet and Database Trends & Applications. He holds a degree from Temple University. He is based in Pennsylvania.

Follow him on Twitter.

Joe McKendrick

Joe McKendrick

Joe McKendrick is an independent consultant and editor. Joe has performed project work for the following companies in the IT marketspace: IBM, Systinet/HP, Teradata. He has performed project work for the following organizations in partnership with Unisphere Research (Unisphere Media): IBM, Oracle Corp., International Oracle Users Group, Oracle Applications Users Group, Professional Association for SQL Server, International DB2 Users Group, International Sybase Users Group.

He writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.

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RE: Cellphone subscriptions approach five-billion mark
Technology advancements are exciting but are we supposed to have the
entire population holding radiating devices next to their heads or
bodies? Is the barrage of frequencies around the world good for life
on the planet?

A couple of years ago it was reported the United States discarded 11
million cell phones a month, where is the recycling done? If we don't
recycle, our bodies will.

With profits are real costs, is the cell phone industry paying the
true costs of their technologies?

Advancements of any kind have to be sustainable and consider
recycling their garbage before allowed to manufacture.
Posted by Thermoguy
13th Apr 2010
+1 Vote
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radiation and recycling
First, people are confused about radiation, the kind that causes harm is Ionizing radiation. Cell phone signals are not Ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation is a type that can knock electrons out of molecules, creating ions, which, when it happens in DNA, causes mutations, cancer, etc. the up to 2 GHZ signal from a cell phone is far from capable of doing this. Many studies have been done trying to find an effect from cell phone signals and other EM radiation. The only results are within the margin of error of the samples, and seem to balance between causing problems and preventing them.
There are people out there with anecdotal stories about things like "a brain tumor on the side of the head where he held his phone," but
1. The signal does not penetrate that deep through skin, bone, liquid, etc.
2. The tumor was probably there undetected years before getting a cell phone.

On recycling, in the US anyway, just about every post office, cell phone store, walmart, bestbuy, radioshack, even home depot, etc has a recycling box for them. Any that go to the landfill are purely due to the carelessness of the consumer. What more could the industry do?
Posted by kevinrs1
13th Apr 2010
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