It is no longer news that communication is very essential today and is classified in the same class as nuclear power, space science, air travel and that revolutionary experience in modern technology.

In third world countries, communication is an expensive enterprise that the rich take advantage of to further repress the poor or disadvantaged. Owning a communication device in these countries is adding to a man’s pool of resources and this is considered an asset that is inscribed in a person’s will when he passes into the afterlife.

For example, the owner of a blackberry phone, I-pod, Laptop or as it was in the 1980s, owning a satellite dish in a person’s home was considered a luxury and therefore attracted envy.

It’s understandable that people feel this way, especially since most households eat less than two dollars a day, and if it translates to meals, it boils down to 0-1-1 or 0-1-0, whichever in effect it means that a family survives every day. by boat and dinner or lunch only, respectively.

Along the same lines, mobile telephony is a relatively new means of communication that allows telephone users to be reached anywhere there is a network connection.

Mobile telephony is certainly changing the face of communication and is useful for bringing loved ones together, conducting business transactions, helping to thwart crime and is necessary for emergency situations.

Well, for those of you who have cell phones or Global System Mobile (GSM) as they are commonly called, lucky you! the problem of maintaining them and the nightmare associated with paying daily fees to their network providers remain the biggest challenge they face on a daily basis.

In other words, it is one thing to buy communication equipment in developing countries and quite another to keep it up and running for the long term so that service providers get the most benefit from their continued patronage.

There was a time when mobile telephony entered most of the countries of the African continent and any network subscriber who does not use their phone to make calls for a maximum duration of three months is sanctioned promptly with the blocking of their card. SIM, which means you can’t make calls. or receive calls again.

How painful it can be for those who bought their SIM cards at exorbitant prices when GSM first debuted in African markets around the late 1970s for some countries and early 1980s for others.

These days, despite the poor network services customers experience, especially during festivals, holidays, and inclement weather conditions, their rates are, to say the least, exploitative.

The sad thing is that the people responsible for their success story don’t feel the ripple effect of the sale’s extravagance; I am referring to the small merchants who perhaps took microcredits to set up top-up card stores to sell the products of communication companies.

So, to survive in the recharge card retail business, one must be prepared to sell phone accessories like chargers, batteries, cases or even engage in recharging people’s phones using generators because the light of the Electricity in most third world countries is epileptic and exclusive to the world. rich, which by the way describes the political class.

The exploitative attitude of these network providers has slowly assumed a dangerous dimension, forcing the innocent public to constantly appeal to the government of their countries to save them from their authoritarian rule.

It is common to see media companies showcasing different products, from the mundane to the sophisticated, in an attempt to entice subscribers to part with their hard-earned money. Of course, they always win due to the gullible disposition of the users. Now they sell songs for use as ring melodies, prayers of men of God, football match results of the best clubs in the world are transferred to the sets of subscribers in return. for a fee. Even Biblical and Koranic verses for mediations, as they claim, are also for sale on request.

However, one wonders if these downloaded materials are covered by the piracy laws of the host nations and if they pay royalties to the artists and authors of the resources they are copying.

Again, one continues to ask the question, how much are the items or rewards they give their customers worth, particularly at the end of the year when they take stock of the companies year-end sales?

More worrying is the latest sales gimmick adopted by most of these service providers in the name of “Promo”. They simply send questions to those who show an interest in earning extra money by promising delicious prizes ranging from cash to valuable gifts like cars and household items. Once they lure their victims into playing, they drag them into a long, drawn-out game that results in subscribers losing the equivalent of a dollar for each response sent via Short Messaging Services (SMS).

Realizing this is a calculated fraud, many have backed out without a dime to reward their efforts. Most of the major players in the communication industry in third world countries are foreign companies whose primary goal is to make a profit, so they don’t really have the genuine interest of their customers as their priority, nor are they in the market to improve communication. economy of their host nations.

He agreed that network companies pay a lot to obtain their license to operate in those countries, but nonetheless owe it to the communities that sponsor them to provide jobs for their people and empower their youth to through the distribution of its goods and services. such as participating in the sponsorship of major events or donating to charity and sports. That way, its impact can be felt even at the base.

Again, a situation where only a few people benefit from the presence of Network Providers in their location by leasing or selling their personal property to locate their mast or when these companies hire the services of cheap labor in the areas where they are located for plant installation is not only unbalanced, but this gesture only empowers select members of society at the expense of the majority.

In one particular African country, one of the seven media companies has changed its name four times in six years of operation because ownership of the company constantly changes hands. Good enough that it is not a liability company, otherwise shareholders would have lost confidence in its management ability to deliver dividends due to instability.

Unfortunately, some of these network providers exist in name only, as their services are awful and therefore not trusted by the public.

Even the establishment of regulatory bodies by the government to ensure a level playing field between providers and network providers and to offer cheap and affordable rates to their customers has not changed their exploitative attitude. The companies assure that they are forced to act in this way since they have to recover the fortunes they paid to obtain their operating license.

The only good advice for them is, “If you can’t take the heat of the kitchen, you should quit,” period.