By Jason Kohn, Contributing Columnist

State-of-the-art broadband services still don’t reach many parts of the African continent, especially rural villages. But one consumer technology is pervasive: cell phones.

According to the Cisco VNI Service Adoption Forecast, there will be 1.3 billion consumer mobile devices across the Middle East and Africa by 2016 – a billion of them being basic feature phones, not smartphones. At the same time, mobile video is expected to be the fastest-growing service in the region, with 184 million users projected by 2016.

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Tags: africa, healthcare, ICT4D, mobile video, rural, vni, VNI-SA

By Michele Baker-Cuthbert, Guest Columnist

Remember the early days of 3-D movies as a kid and watching the classics, like the Creature from the Black Lagoon as it terrorized people from under water?

Whenever Hollywood comes out with a new 3-D movie, people get excited to attend due to the thrill of the movie. Many users consider the difference in experience between in-theatre vs at-home.

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Tags: 3D TV, digital TV, entertainment, trends, vni, VNI-SA

By Laura Walker Hudson, Guest Columnist

FrontlineSMS grew out of a conviction that mobile could be a more powerful tool if it was made completely accessible to smaller teams and projects as a professional tool. Also known as text messaging, SMS is the most widespread digital communications platform to date and is still growing. The Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Service Adoption Forecast predicts that 90% of global mobile subscribers will be using SMS by 2016, up from 74% in 2011.

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Tags: africa, FrontlineSMS, Kenya, mobile technology, mobile vni forecast, NGO, sms, text messaging, vni, VNI-SA

By Adele Waugaman, Guest Columnist

In Jordan a revolution is brewing, but unlike in neighboring countries being reshaped by the Arab Spring, this revolution has the support of the King.

A culture of entrepreneurship, fueled by a boom in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, is quietly transforming the country by creating new businesses and jobs.

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Tags: entrepreneurs, healthcare, ICT, Jordan Education Initiative, medical, mHealth, Middle East, mobile, VNI-SA

Even though we all know the statistics showing the tremendous growth of mobile and smartphone usage, I continue to be amazed by the impact this technology is making for the most disconnected societies.

I am particularly interested in the use of mobile applications for social entrepreneurship. By using basic SMS communications communities have been able to educate and reach many more people than traditional tactics.

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Tags: mobile applications, research, sms, social economics, visual networking index, vni, VNI-SA