The Payphone Project > Pictures of Payphones

24/25
Home / Search results /

Uganda Payphone

lake_victoria_solar_payphone_02.jpg Mauritius,off of South Africa near MadagascarThumbnailsUganda PayphoneMauritius,off of South Africa near MadagascarThumbnailsUganda 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 the 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 is a brilliant adaptive use of technology.

Albums