July 30th, 2003
Read this very thought-provoking article at Wired on how instant messanging is helping bridge the communications gap in Iraq. The people there use it widely as an affordable alternative to expensive and often unavailable telecom network.
An interesting sideline: My friend’s uncle (an economist with the World Bank) told me that how international long-distance calls in Kampala (the capital of Uganda, Africa) is much more expensive than in the remote villages. The remote villages are connected to the world by Voice over IP whereas the capital has to make do with standard telephone lines.
