Spatial Patterns of Telecom Coverage in Africa Before the "Mobile Boom"

Abstract

In our previous article (Erdősi 2012), we presented the development of intercontinental (wired and wireless) telecommunications infrastructures, which have been accelerating Africa’s integration into global infocommunications in recent times. However, the development of local and intra-country telecommunications coverage technically only partly depends on the commendable achievements in this field. The “mobile explosion” that occurred in our century (the rapid spread of digital cellular radiotelephones and their beneficial consequences for the daily lives of Africans) will be the topic of our next article. Until the beginning of our century, wired systems and modes were the dominant ones, but their infrastructure was technically extremely backward, their networks were rare, and the services they provided were available to only a small part of the population. Our present article focuses on the characteristics of the drastic territorial differences in the development of individual telecommunications services before 2005 and the factors influencing them.