Mobile phone technology is driving media innovation in Africa, surpassing the Internet and transforming communications across the continent, African experts said during a panel discussion sponsored by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in Washington, D.C.

The panelists included mobile media expert Justin Arenstein, a new Knight International Journalism Fellow from South Africa and a co-founder of African Eye News Service; Amadou Mahtar Ba, CEO of the African Media Initiative in Nairobi, Kenya; and Sunday Dare, an award-winning investigative reporter and a new Knight Health Journalism Fellow based in Nigeria.

The panel discussion, called "Breaking Ground: Media Innovation in Africa," was moderated by ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan. She noted that Africa has been the world’s fastest-growing mobile phone market in recent years. One-third of the African population now has a mobile plan, she said.

Kenya and South Africa have become hotbeds of technological innovation, producing digital products that have gone global. “(Real-time mapping site) Ushahidi was born in a small back room in Kenya, and has created a massive global impact,” said Arenstein. He added that “(Media giant) Naspers is a great example of a South African company that’s now invested across the world.”

Ba noted three major factors behind the spurt in media innovation in Africa: a sustained economic growth rate that has surpassed the pace in many developed countries; a growing youth population eager to embrace new media; and increasingly affordable technology, providing the tools for mobile and digital networks.

The increased access to mobile technology over the past four years has also led to a rise in citizen journalism that is putting pressure on traditional news firms, said Dare. “What’s happening today is the existence of a platform where anybody can get (the news) out.” He said the leading website for news and information in Nigeria is Nairaland.com, a citizen journalism site.

Thanks to mobile innovation, the panelists said, it’s now possible to transfer money, or get critical information about agriculture and health issues in some of the most remote places in Africa. Kenya’s leading mobile phone company, Safricom, for example, has a service called M-Pesa, which allows customers to transfer money to another mobile phone user, withdraw cash, buy airtime, pay bills and even make loan payments.

Arenstein said African telecom companies in general are leading the digital revolution, rather than traditional media firms. “A lot of mobile companies in Africa no longer see themselves as mobile companies but also as media companies,” said Arenstein. South African mobile firm MTN, for example, is launching a newsroom in Kampala, Uganda. As advertisers shift to technology-based companies, he said, traditional media runs the risk of being left behind. “They think they need to set up a website,” said Arenstein. “But Africa has leapfrogged the Internet. We’ve gone to the mobile web.”

All three panelists said they were optimistic about the opportunities for better news and more rapid economic development in Africa because of new technology. Within five to ten years, Ba predicts “a totally changed continent where people have taken a deep sense of how they can change their lives with technology.”

To see coverage of the event on Twitter, click here.