A few years ago this was the norm. If a woman was told that her daughter in America wanted to speak to her at 7 pm, she would leave her house at dawn to sit and chat at the neighbor’s house where she would receive the call. About the time the call was expected, the padlock that clipped the dial to prevent unauthorized use was removed. When the phone finally rang, she would lift the phone carefully. She would listen painstakingly for the almost inaudible voice of her daughter but after saying hello and may be a few words, the line would cut off. The attempt by the child to call back was often futile; but the woman would happily give up because she was reassured that her daughter was alive. She waits till the next month for another try. Last year, at my mother’s birthday, my siblings and I sang the birthday song on a conference call from different cites of the world. Things have changed.
Some time ago, someone thought things could be better than it was and chose to do something about it. Someone thought that one could speak to another person in a distant location. Another person thought that making those calls did not have to be wires. Yet another thought could be digital. One person thought it could be portable. Thinking did not stop there. Someone thought making calls could add value hence profitable. Someone thought it could be a business. These thoughts birthed the revolution we have today. As important as technology was to the development of telecoms, the profit angle was critical to its success. In Nigeria, the profitability of NITEL was not evident but with the advent of Econet Wireless (now Celtel) closely followed by MTN, MTEL and later on, Globacom, we have what we see. The evolution of phones from one per community to dozens per household came because somebody had a thought and did something about it. Both the technician and the entrepreneur thought and did something. What are you doing about that idea?
