In Africa, less than one in three people have a proper drainage system, half of the population live in areas without paved roads, and only 63% have access to piped water. Yet, 93% of Africans have cell phone service. These are among the findings in a recently published report by Afrobarometer, a pan-African, non-partisan research network which explored access to basic services and infrastructure in 35 African countries through about 50,000 face to face interviews.
Logistically it is easier, and cheaper to set up mobile networks in Africa, and other places with extreme or remote environments, than water and sanitation systems, roads, schools, etc. And people in developing countries use simple cell phones, with text messaging, to bank, to get updates to help them in their specific type of ranching or farming, to remind them to take HIV meds or when a doctor is visiting, and on and on. This article does a great job of showing the variety of ways Africans in particular are using SMS. And here's another good article detailing such.
HOWEVER... there is strong link between poverty and whether or not individuals have access to key services in their communities. Afrobarometer data describe “lived poverty” based on how frequently people go without basic necessities (food, clean water for home use, medicines or medical treatment, fuel for cooking, and a cash income) during the course of a year. The frequency with which a household goes without food, in particular, is a good proxy for overall household experience of poverty.
My fear is that many donors are seeing how easy it is to ramp up mobile tech and develop software that that's where they are putting their energies instead of to the far more expensive efforts needed for clean water, access to food (not just donated food), medical treatment, cash incomes, etc.