via receiver, an article about innovative uses in mobile phone use in Africa:

One such regional innovation is the public mobile phone. We might consider mobiles as belonging to individuals, but in Africa, as elsewhere in the developing world, handsets often pull double-duty, used by multiple family members, shared among friends (perhaps by swapping SIM cards in and out), or perhaps by a whole set of users in a village or neighborhood. Across the region, many people make their living by selling individual calls on handsets. These micro-entrepreneurs play an important function in extending connectivity to people who can not afford their own handset, or who might only require an occasional call.

The most famous example of this model is Grameen Village Phone, formed originally in Bangladesh. Grameen Village Phone has recently introduced its programs in Uganda and Rwanda. A similar franchise model is found in the phone shops of South Africa, where tens of thousands of locations provide GSM-based telecommunications services. Developed originally to fulfill some of South Africa's universal access provisions, these franchises have proved extremely important to the townships and rural areas in the nation.

But these mobile-based payphone businesses need not have the backing of major telecommunications companies or NGOs. In West Africa, for example, "Umbrella Ladies" simply set up at the side of the road with a lawn chair, a mobile, and some shade from the sun; informal resale of individual calls are common throughout the continent. This is the local user innovation I wish to highlight in this article: the impromptu phone booth!

...via Smart Mobs