Cameroon to fight power cuts via cellular phones, Internet
0Cameroon is set to fight power cuts via cellular phones and the Internet, the Borneo Post reports. By sending daily emails and text messages to electricity consumers asking if they have experienced power cuts, the country hopes to crowd source responses via text messaging and e-mail. Cameroonians who sign up for the program will receive an email or SMS every day asking: “Did you experience power cuts yesterday, and if so, how many and for how long?”
The program will be “a kind of permanent survey”, its backers said. The project — known as Feowl, for “fuel owl” — is being funded by journalism watchdog group the International Press Institute.
“In economic terms, it will be a godsend for companies, which will be able to precisely analyse the risk of power cuts before deciding what neighbourhood to set up in,” said one of the project’s organisers, Nicolas Kayser-Bril.
