ICTworks by Inveneo

Kevin Donovan and Jonathan Donner believe that prepaid ICT access models are more appropriate for poorer consumers and the availability of prepaid mobile data will be a key driver of inclusive mobile Internet usage. To prove their thesis, they've complied an amazing Ushahidi Map of the availability of prepaid mobile Internet in Africa.

But rather than just relying on their own observations, they've opened their map and their project to your input. You too can add to the knowledge of prepaid mobile data plans:

For the crowdsourcing, we’ve created an editable Google Map with entries for each country. Green indicates existing knowledge that prepaid data is offered by at least one provider. Yellow means we have been unable to determine the presence of prepaid mobile data. And Red suggests confidence that it is not available in that country (though if you know otherwise, please do correct us!).

If you know for certain that prepaid data is available for mobile phones from at least one network provider in one of the countries marked Yellow, you can either email us directly or submit a web formon the African Prepaid Mobile Data map - the more supporting evidence, including links or your name/affiliation, the better.

Now Kevin and Jonathan are not stopping at just a map - this is actually a subset of a much larger research paper on mobile data access and its impact on Africa. Hopefully they'll share the finished report with us as well.

Facebook has finally launched Facebook Zero in 10 African countries (and 45 countries globally), and I say this is reason to celebrate!

While Kevin Donovan worries about the impact of Facebook's lack of privacy concerns on unsophisticated users and Erik Hersman bemoans Facebook Zero's impact on local software innovation, I'm with Steve Song - Facebook Zero is sexy.

Facebook Zero will drive ICT usage

Like I said back in February, Facebook Zero is web chang’aa for Africa, and like chang’aa, jobs will be lost, marriages will break up, and all manner of parents and elders will claim its a blight on the land as Facebook addiction spreads from urban elite out to every corner of Africa.

Facebooking will drive e-everything

Unlike actual chang’aa, Facebook Zero will also have a positive effect - its gonna increase demand for full Internet services for every category of content and hardware platform. All those new Facebook users will also become new news, ecommerce, employment, and education content consumers.

Facebook will get Africa online

Right now, many ICT companies in Africa don't even have websites. Why? Because their clients aren't online, so there is no need for them to be. Facebook Zero will change all that - anyone doing business will need to be on Facebook, just to prove existence to an inquisitive client. Now extrapolate that out to everyday life - Facebook will be the catalyst that gets African online when everything else to date has not.

We all will benefit from Facebook Zero

While I do worry about local software development (more than online privacy), I am not worried that Facebook Zero will stifle innovation. In fact, I think it will be a great boon to ICT innovation. Why? Because it will vastly increase the base on which innovation can occur. Instead of catering to a rounding error of a country's population, web developers will have the whole country to sell to.

Even hardware vendors will be inundated with Facebookers. Yes, mobile phones will lead in usage by far. But make no mistake. Those that get addicted to Facebook on mobiles will want the full screen upgrade - for Facebook and all the other Internet destinations.

And yes, even privacy will get a boost. Just wait till the first national scandal that breaks from a Facebook privacy setting change.