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Comment by Grue3 | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, all the poor people without access to electricity would love Bitcoin.

Most people in Zimbabwe have electricity. Zimbabwe has 97% mobile penetration: http://afkinsider.com/20015/report-zimbabwe-has-97-mobile-pe... Last time I checked their phones didn't run on magic, but on electricity :) And all you need to use Bitcoin is a cellphone (a $20 smartphone).

(No I am not seriously suggesting Zimbabwe uses Bitcoin. I am just pointing out you seem to incorrectly think all people in African countries live in huts or something.)

> Most people in Zimbabwe have electricity. ... you seem to incorrectly think all people in African countries live in huts

I know people who live in good houses in affluent parts of one of the largest cities in South Africa, and they don't have electricity 24/7 http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za/loadshedding/description.

You don't need to have electricity 24/7 everywhere, you only need it in one place in a village for few hours so that everyone can get their phones charged on a regular basis.

There are exceptions to every rule, in Zimbabwe you could have 24/7 electricity and a fibre optic internet connection in some areas, and I can't even get fibre to my place in South Africa.

It's quite likely your friend uses a generator or inverter. It is quite likely 24/7.

Load shedding's occurrences have also only been something more recent (past few months).

Generators are still fairly rare in the suburbs. Load shedding has been in SA for several years now.

It's been there for several years conceptually as a plan to deal with limited capacity. Meaning it comes and goes.

For the good part of the last 3 years it's hardly been there (so unnoticeable one would probably say power is hardly/never cut). Its just been more impactful in the past few months & the last few months of last year.

Generators/Inverters aren't rare in the suburbs or in the further outlying areas. At least not anymore. Not everyone, but one could hear someone else's close by/a neighbors.

Not even just poor people, almost all people have trouble getting electricity there. Of course, excluding the politically connected and powerful.

</used_to_live_there>

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