Yea. I asked that same question. Where exactly is Mauritania? Well a little Google mapage followed… and here it is:

Yup. Africa. I’m telling you this … for two reasons.

1) Because it shows just what you can do if you put your mind to something. You see, most folks in this country of 3+ Million don’t use land lines. Heck most (85%) were still considered nomdic until just 20 years ago. So in a country with about 1/3 of the population using mobile phones instead of landlines, you bring the service to the people… even if it means through sparsely populated desert.

2) It shows how far behind the curve T-Mobile and AT&T are.

So yea … a country with 14,000 people who use the Internet has 3G services. T-Mobile who has 27 Million customers? Nope.

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) – Mauritania became the latest African country to benefit from third-generation (3G) mobile phone services on Thursday as its newest provider Chinguitel went live, officials said.

Chinguitel, majority owned by Sudan’s national telecoms company Sudatel, covers 4,000 km (2,485 miles) of main routes spreading through Mauritania, a mostly desert nation straddling black and Arab West Africa on the western edge of the Sahara.

Please … a moment of silence while we applaud the efforts of T-Mobile and AT&T.

3G cell service goes live in Mauritania | Technology | Reuters