The BBC's education service Janala is delivering English lessons via mobile phones to users in Bangladesh. Since the service was launched in November 2009, over 1 million lessons have been accessed. Bangladesh has 50 million mobile users within it's borders. The service offers hundreds of three-minute audio lessons and SMS (Text) quizzes to the users for a nominal fee. The service is accessed by dialing "3000" and choosing from the menu of options. The BBC has a website that compliments the service and gives users free access to content.

The goal of the BBC in creating the service was to bring English language learning to the masses because it is the international language of business.

More than two-thirds of people who use the beginners' service return, which is impressive considering the 5% "return rate" for mobile products in Bangladesh. The BBC said overall 39% of callers returned to Janala.

An impressive majority of Bangladeshis – 84% – consider English essential to securing a good job and educating their children, according to a BBC survey.

"We knew demand for English was strong in Bangladesh, but the response to BBC Janala has been nothing short of phenomenal," said Chamberlain.

"The growth of mobile is clearly creating an opportunity to provide access to education in a way simply not possible before."

The last quote from the article is the most compelling. The technology is providing a service that would be impossible without the technology. This is just one of many examples I have read about over the last few months that highlights how mobile phones are being used to educate people in very poor countries where internet access via a computer is not the norm or cost prohibitive.