Speaking of mobile banking (see the previous post), it might be useful to see just what mobile coverage looks like in South Africa. Fortunately, the UNDP provides heat maps with exactly this data. Here is one from 2000 (which also appears in an earlier post called UNDP discovers the private sector):
Compare that to a similar map with data for 2006 (below the fold):
Six years saw some notable improvements: Western Cape, North-West, the Free State, and Kwazulu-Natal all moved into a higher category of cell phone coverage. While South Africa hasn't achieved universal coverage, it's certainly moving in the right direction, which is promising for the extension of mobile banking services.
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