The World is in Our Palms, Or is It?

Locally, the temptation, always, is to criticize people with - for want of a better word - 'ubiquitous' cell phones or trendy cell phones, some of which look like they have just dropped out of an alien spaceship, seeing their curious and bizarre designs and colour displays.

But these are the latest phones on the market, phones that look like they are going to talk - literally to you or worse (even better) cheer you up when you're depressed or celebrate with you when the occasion demands.

The criticism is usually followed by the seemingly reasonable proclamations that a cell phone, typically, is for making and receiving calls, sending and receiving text messages through the Short Messaging Service - SMS, nothing more and nothing less.

True, a cell phone is ideally supposed to allow users to do just that. But, ever since the advent of this wonder, new technologies for mobile phones have been developed so much that in today's bulging information age, text messaging and call waiting seem so archaic and with all due respect to these two valuable innovations - out of place. An example is Third Generation technology or 3G in short.

But in Malawi, the two mobile phone service operators, Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) and Celtel Malawi currently do not offer 3G services. However, Celtel Malawi has come up with new and exciting services that are, without a doubt - an indication that the country may be, finally, heading towards the age of 3G networking.

Celtel Malawi has introduced mobile data services in the form of mobile Internet and multimedia messaging, popularly known as MMS. Of course, the mobile Internet service has always been around for the people who cared to hop on to this bandwagon, available on both networks, TNM and Celtel.

Coming through the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), this service enables subscribers with compatible phones to browse the Internet and check their emails on the go literally.

But, at US$0.17 a minute for Celtel subscribers and $0.03 a minute for TNM subscribers, many people probably thought it a long shot to access such services, unless of course it was very necessary to go online on their phones.

So perhaps this is why Celtel Malawi has come with a very attractive package of mobile online connectivity. For 15 Units (or $0.15 in the normal sense), Malawians can now take a picture of their birthday party, send it to their friend who could not make it and make them jealous they did not come to the party.

Even better, they can now capture their other moments on video and share them with family and friends all over Malawi. The service currently does not support international connections.

It is, however, the initial price offer from Celtel that truly points to just how much effect this innovation can have on mobile communication in Malawi.

At 19 Units ($0.19) per Mega Byte (MB) people here can now reach out to the world, browse their favourite web pages, download data ? pictures, music and videos, send and receive emails (with attachments ? provided your mobile mail client allows for that) and still have enough time and space to Google their names, their partners' and even their neighbours'if they so wish.

Philip Mwawa is an IT student in Blantyre, Malawi?s commercial capital city. He tells of his experience with the mobile internet service. "It's such an amazing development. There are times when I've wished I could carry my PC with me but now I don't have to since my cell phone can now act in its role," he says.

Some Malawian journalists too, have joined in the fray and are enjoying this latest offer from Celtel Malawi. Jack McBrams is a journalist with Nation Publications Limited based again in Blantyre.

"This couldn't have come at a better time. I'm constantly on the go and hence the need to check my emails. I can also know what's happening around the world without needing to be on a computer. Actually, I can now file my stories from remote locations as long as they have Celtel network,' he says.

The ability of phones to bypass computers is what might just break the digital divide here in Malawi given the cost of computers. The local minimum cost of a brand new PC is about US$700.

But also, WAP-compatible phones do not come cheap locally. Users will have to part with at least US$200 to get a phone that can allow them to tap into the wealth of excitement that is mobile connectivity.

Yet, with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) indicating that in 2001, Africa became the first region where the number of mobile subscribers exceeded those using fixed lines and that the number of mobile subscribers grew by 80 million between 1998 and 2004, the cost of cell phones might just be pushed down.

For now, the world is slowly finding its way in Malawians' palms.