Uganda Payphone
Payphone on Lake Victoria in Uganda using GSM Technology and Solar Power. Photo sent in by Craig Wheeler, Remkor Technologies South Africa.
A surprising number of people seem to think this photo is a fake. It is not fake. It shows a Ugandan fisherman using a solar powered GSM phone. Solar powered + GSM enabled = no wires.
In other words, it’s a cell phone. Like any cell phone, it can be used virtually anywhere, even from top of a post in the middle of a lake.
It is a *pay* cell phone and that’s why you see it on this web site, but it’s a cell phone nonetheless. As far as I know there are no limits on using cell phones on boats.
The photo may have been staged for publicity use, but that would not make it fake.
Cleverness aside, I think Remkor’s success in bringing phone service to water-based communities represents a pretty brilliant adaptive use of technology.
More on this great project: Payphone
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