Developing Telecoms | Econet Telecom and ForgetMeNot Africa bring mobile email to Lesotho

21 May 2012

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Econet Telecom and ForgetMeNot Africa bring mobile email to Lesotho

Friday, 23 October 2009 14:42 | James Barton

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Econet Telecom Lesotho has launched ForgetMeNot Africa’s Message Optimiser service across Lesotho, bringing mobile email services to rural and urban areas across the country and more than doubling the population’s access to email.

According to the ITU, only 3.4% of Lesotho’s population has access to the Internet, meaning that despite high literacy rates the population struggles to access vital information such as healthcare, travel and educational resources.

ForgetMeNot Africa’s new service allows Econet Telecom’s entire user base to send and receive email via entry level, low end mobile phones. The service does not require any device upgrades, application downloads or even Internet access – ForgetMeNot Africa’s Handset Initiation technology bypasses this need and opens up the service to mobile phone users in even the most remote areas.

Mpine Tente, Head of Department Retail and Customer Service of Econet Telecom Lesotho, said: "We are proud to be one of the first companies in Africa to significantly improve the population's access to email via ForgetMeNot Africa's Message Optimiser service which opens up email communications to our entire subscriber base irrespective of what phone they are using. Our mobile phone customers can now use email to share important information, communicate with family overseas or friends in another country, or even do business with people just a few miles down the road, all for the cost of a local SMS.”

Jeremy George, Chief Operating Officer of ForgetMeNot Africa added: "Currently Lesotho's population has to share access to a little over 2,000 PCs connected to the Internet, most of which are in urban areas. Availability of smartphones, laptops and even fixed line Internet connections is very low for this highly literate country. Using ForgetMeNot Africa's Message Optimiser, Econet Telecom Lesotho will bring mobile email to the entire Econet Telecom Lesotho subscriber base of both post and prepay customers across the country. The service will transform the country's low grade mobile phones into a stepping stone across the global digital divide."

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