Cameroon Gets Connected HENRI FOTSO 'Globalization insights’ is a series of feature stories told by journalists from Africa, Asia and Latin America – sto­ries that give an insight into the perceptions and experi­ences of people as globalization unfolds in their environs. This project is jointly organized by the Friedrich-Ebert­Stiftung and IPS EUROPA. Mrs. Kamguia thinks nothing of spending half her daily income on an airtime card for her mobile phone. She needs to be connected as much as her family needs to be fed. Her husband too is connected. His phone rings in the evening when he is having dinner. Immediately he hangs up. The wife wants to know who called. The inevi­table quarrel begins. The husband thinks the wife has spent too much on her airtime card, and the wife rages because she suspects it was a girlfriend who called at dinner time. Cameroon is playing its part now in these globalised quarrels. The mobile telephone, once a luxury for a few privileged people, is now accessible to many who offer it as a token to their loved ones. Or, they buy them airtime cards. No­wadays, some girls will only date boys or men who can offer them a mobile telephone."I cannot date a guy who can't buy me a mobile phone," says Annie, a student in Lycee Jos Douala. But the mobile phone has brought also a globalisation of amenities. The mobile phone is an asset in many towns and villages in Cameroon. Mrs. Makenmou lives in Tse quarters in Bandjoun village, which has neither piped water supply, nor electricity. Ten years ago, this mama could not imagine that she could speak with her son(bu­sinessman in Douala, some 300 km away from the villa­ge) from her thatched roofed kitchen in the village. Today, she regularly keeps him informed about her health, thanks to the magic of the mobile phone network that has penetrated deep into the hinterland. Mrs. Ma­kenmou's mobile phone saved her life December 2004. She could immediately call her son after a high blood pressure attack, who in turn called a doctor ni nearby Bafoussam, and asked him to attend to his mother. In some communities, the mobile telephone is also fre­quently used to fight crime. One just needs to dial the security numbers 12, 13, or 17 to call the police, the gen­darmerie or the army. A private radio station in Douala "Equinox FM" has a night programme where people atta­cked by thieves can recount their experience minute by minute. Thanks to this facility, many homes have been saved from thieves. Another outstanding fact is the proliferation of call boxes as well as telephone repairers in the streets of all towns