GSM cellulars are the most well-liked in the entire world. Estimates suggest that the standard consists some 80% of all cell phones in use across the planet. And while GSM cell phones are a all-pervasive feature of first world countries, it is their position in far less “civilized” locations that best shows the reach and influence of current communications.

Think about Somalia: a large, desert country on the eastern horn of Africa which in the past 20 years has been wracked by civil war and famine. Bombed out bullet riddled cities dot the barren landscape where for thousands of years, nomads have roamed the desert herding goats and camels across hundreds of miles from pastures in the damp season to promote in the dry time of year. Even practical measures of distance here do not abide by the metric or imperial standards utilized by the rest of the world.

Nomad determine distance simply by units known as a Gedi: the distance a browsing herd animal may travel in a day, which changes every season relying on the physical strength of each herd. Even working automobiles are scarce here, let alone something sophisticated as a GSM cellular phone. However the simple application of GSM cell phones, which we in the western world have long taken for granted, has proven unbelievably practical to this nomadic lifestyle.

For generations, Somali herdsmen have followed an annual pattern. Towards the end of the year once the dry season comes, they migrate from the more fertile fields elsewhere in the country, across the desert, to coastal cities where they can promote their stock in the markets to traders from the Middle East and somewhere else. Keeping their animals in pens within the cities while they set up a sale is incredibly costly, as they will have to continue to feed and water their herd with stores provided for by nearby merchants at obscene costs. They have no choice. However, GSM cell phones have granted them to forego this process.

A Somali nomad, a man wearing hand sewn clothes he has most likely worn for all of his life, carrying a staff in the traditional posture – horizontally over his shoulders, his arms resting atop – a guy who sleeps using a mat of thatched grass under the stars, beside a fire he built on his own, can now simply make a phone call and prepare the sale of his herd ahead of time. Instead of lingering in the city for several days, expending what meager wealth he has on preserving his herd there, hoping his sale can recover his losses as well as turn a profit, he can now simply organize to have a buyer all set for him the instant he arrives. Such high technology might seem incredibly out of place in Somalia, but it’s application is perfectly suited to the needs of a nomad.

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Mobile & Cell Phones