Young people and mobile phone technology in Botswana

Abstract

Almost a decade since the advent of mobile telephony countrywide, Botswana has recorded a significant growth in mobile phone subscription. In all the villages, towns, and cities across Botswana, many adolescents, adults, and elderly people own and use a mobile phone. In its 2012 annual report, the Botswana Communications and Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) documented that mobile phone subscription across Botswana’s three network operators, BTC be Mobile, Mascom, and Orange, had increased dramatically from 332,264 in 2002 to 2,953,116 subscribers among a population of around 2.1 million (Botswana Telecommunications Authority. Annual report. Gaborone; 2012). Elsewhere it was suggested that high mobile phone adoption in Botswana is a result of both the local networks’ and the Botswana government’s commitment to diffuse network signals to many places countrywide (Lesitaokana 2014). For instance, the local networks have continued to extend mobile phone signals and mobile-enabled services countrywide, while the Botswana government has committed itself to networking the villages that have been underserved by the local networks. Subsequently, young people in Botswana adopt mobile phones, as the devices promise them extensive connectedness with their family, relatives, and friends, and also use them to access public and social services. Nonetheless, as part of young people’s interactive relationship with mobile phones, the devices also influence cultural practices and inappropriate behaviors among youth. Given this situation, we are presented with an ideal opportunity to study both the socioeconomic importance and the cultural implications of the mobile phone in the Botswana context, especially since such issues have been underreported in the sociological literature.