The Cell Phone

In Kampala everyone who can afford a cell phone and airtime has one. Actually, many people who can afford a cell phone, but can’t afford airtime have them also.

Text Messaging, known as sms, has made communication accessible. Sending an sms costs about 0.05 CAN and a call 0.35 CAN a minute. This brings new abilities to a city where so few people (companies & businesses) have telephones the Kampala phone book is smaller than Sidney’s (BC) directory.

And as long as you have some credit you can beep. It’s how Ugandan’s let each other know they want to chat. You call your friend with your remaining credit, the very second it begins to ring – you hang up, thus not spending any money. Your name/number appears on their screen and if they have airtime they will call you.

It can both work well and be annoying at the same time. It is especially bad when you don’t have enough credit even to text to tell them you can’t call back.

The setup is different here than at home. The phone is purchased directly from the dealer. There are no promotional deals where if you sign up you will be given a lower price. In fact there are no contracts at all. After the phone is bought, a network is chosen and a sim (computer) card is purchased for the equivalent of $2 CAN.

The sim card is the phone number. Users buy phone minutes from the thousands of vendors distributed across the city. The vendors sit near offices, walk down the middle of the road, and wait near the taxi parks to sell airtime. The credit is added and you are ready to call, sms or beep.