A United Nations report says mobile phone subscriptions have grown faster in Africa than in any other region of the world since 2003. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has just published its Information Economy Report 2009, which shows there are now more than 10 times as many mobile subscriptions as fixed lines in all of Africa - and more than 20 times as many in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Between 2003 and 2008, mobile subscriptions in Africa rose from 54 million to almost 350 million - an increase of over 500%. Today, average mobile penetration in Africa is over a third of the population. Some countries have approaching 100% penetration, while only five African countries - Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia - still have a mobile penetration of less than 10%.

Mark Bridge writes:

Yesterday I spotted a new blog page from O2-supported MVNO giffgaff. The company’s head of digital marketing Rob Gotlieb announced the finished version of a promotional film – and mentioned the official voice of giffgaff, voiceover artist Tom Oldham (who, interestingly, was also the voice on Vodafone ads at one point). And for a moment I thought “Official voice?  You what?”

Fuel cells have been seen as the future of power because they can produce electricity through a chemical reaction that creates no pollution, just heat and water. Until now they’ve generally only been available to commercial organisations – but today Toshiba has announced a methanol-powered fuel cell that’s going on sale to the general public in Japan.

It’s called Dynario and will be produced in a limited edition of 3,000 units that’ll be sold online. A methanol cartridge provides refuelling within 20 seconds, while a USB connector means it can be used with multiple devices. A single refill of methanol can generate enough power to charge two mobile phones.