On the streets of Dakar, Rabat, Harare, and in fact almost any African city, as well as in the countryside and along the coast, the cell phones are ringing. Africa has become like manna from heaven for cell-phone operators, who no longer hesitate to invest on the continent. In 2000, Africans made more calls than in the previous fifty years put together, and the annual growth of cell phones has hit an average of 65% for the continent as a whole. This trend is very widespread, affecting even countries like Somalia, which has lacked a central government for thirteen years. Figures alone cannot really convey the extensive impact of this development – for example, a single phone can be used by an entire clan. The consequences are far from negligible. Up to now, the most remote regions lacked access to modern communications, and not many governments were willing to invest in fixed telephone lines. Now, from the countryside to the coast, people can use WAP or mobile Internet services to find out the price of farm products or fish so as to get a better price on the local market. Handwritten signboards are springing up alongside the roads in large urban areas advertising local tradesmen who only a short time earlier had no way to contact potential customers other than to wander the streets, going from door to door. In Dakar, a road-transport firm is now using WAP to manage its fleet of vehicles, enabling it to locate them and ensure that goods are more traceable. And of course there are the phone dealers, who have stalls in the marketplaces of even the smallest towns. In short, the cell phone is much more than a simple gadget that enables someone to be in touch anytime anywhere; now it is a key factor in individual initiative. It needs little infrastructure and no subscription, simply a card slipped into the cell phone. No wonder it has become a valuable tool in promoting the growth of the small and medium-sized companies that many experts consider to be the main source of economic development for the continent as a whole.