E-skills training on communal, fixed infrastructure as an activator of personal use of mobile internet

In the second semester of 2012, training in computer literacy was offered in the Dwesa area, in deep rural South Africa, within the footprint of the Siyakhula Living Lab. Training of this nature is essential to make ICT access meaningful in such areas, and avoid wasteful `box dropping', unfortunately not uncommon. The training was done using communal fixed infrastructure located in schools but, interestingly, activated or deepened the use of mobile intemet among the people that attended the training. This paper contributes on the ongoing debate on whether mobile devices are the one and only solution to ICT access in rural (and peri-urban) poor settings in Africa.