More places are picking up electricity all the time. Oddly enough, the very solar panels and wind generators that are still seen as too expensive in e.g. the US can be a HUGE help in getting electricity to remote areas.
A typical cell phone battery stores 5-7 watt hours. With good sunlight, one 30-watt solar panel might provide full charges for 15+ phones in a day. Maybe add $10-20 to the cost of each phone to get a solar charging station set up in a village?
Indeed, I found this true in rural South Africa.
Almost everyone carried a "dumb" phone since obviously, cell access is vastly desirable over landline in those sorts of areas.
Additionally, it would often behoove local groups to team up and get a small solar generator. Both for the savings (even a small panel could provide much of their daily energy use) as well as for increased self-reliance from the "grid" (or, more like the "wire", if there was one).
Solar panels actually aren't a great option here believe it or not. People have been trying for a long time to get them working well and they just don't. Typical problems are theft, quick degradation from too much sun etc.. They are also pretty darn expensive.
There are other options though. One of the more interesting ones is being done by Nuru, which sets up micro-businesses of people who charge lights / phones / radios using a pedal powered generator. Those generators are really simple, last a long time and they are set up right from the start to provide an income source for the owner.
That said, smartphones aren't really viable for the 'villagers' for a while still, charging every day really isn't practical even with something like that, it is just too expensive. But there are still a ton more just above them that live in more urban environment where electricity is available, and for them cheap smartphones can really change things.
A typical cell phone battery stores 5-7 watt hours. With good sunlight, one 30-watt solar panel might provide full charges for 15+ phones in a day. Maybe add $10-20 to the cost of each phone to get a solar charging station set up in a village?
That wouldn't be so bad, all things considered.