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"Smartphones are owned by one in five people and have changed how many of the world's most important industries work - from journalism to farming. But their production carries a cost; using more than 40 elements that are mined with untold environmental and social effects on every inhabited continent on earth. "

The project is part of the 4Afrika Initiative, an investment programme being announced by technology giant Microsoft, that also includes a new Windows Phone 8 smartphone for the region and investment in help for small businesses on the continent, and in education and internships.For the white spaces project, the company is working with a Kenyan ISP, Indigo Telecom, and the Kenyan government. The ISP is installing wireless 'base stations' - or masts - that are solar-powered, to get round the lack of mains electricity. The base stations act as a link to the nearest main cable connection to the internet, without the expense of extending the fibre-optic network. The solar panels will power the bases stations - and also charge computer equipment The signal supplied is much more powerful than normal wifi.

Mobile phone ownership across the continent is rocketing, but can it expand higher education's reach and quality? Basic handsets, many without internet capability, dominate; smartphone penetration, in the industry jargon, is estimated to be 15 per cent at most Lesego is 18 and lives in an isolated village in western Botswana.