Mobile phone usage has exploded in Africa over the last decade, with 197.4 million mobile phone users in 2006, up from just 25.3 million in 2001, according to the UN’s International Telecommunication Union. The growth was so spectacular that some of the bigger markets like South Africa and Nigeria have already shown signs of consolidation. But analysts say there is still plenty of room for growth in Sudan. Ahmed Haroun’s tiny newspaper stand in the middle of Khartoum is plastered with mobile phone posters and strings of pre-pay cards, wallpapering the back of the shack and hanging down in front of customers like festive decorations. Outside, the street is cluttered with advertising urging passersby to sign up with state-run Sudani, South Africa’s MTN or Kuwait’s Zain. Even the rubbish on the pavement is littered with bent and used up mobile phone scratch cards, most of them in the smallest denomination
